SERBS CAN ALWAYS RELY ON THEIR RUSSIAN BROTHERS

VIŠEGRAD, APRIL 21 /SRNA/ – Republika Srpska Minister of Labor and Veterans' and Disability Protection Radan Ostojić emphasized the significant contribution of Russian volunteers in the Homeland-Defense War and in the defense of Orthodoxy, as well as the role of the Russian Federation in securing peace in this region and supporting the brotherly Serb people.

Speaking in Višegrad today, Ostojić said they had gathered to mark the Day of Russian Volunteers, who came to help from brotherly and great Russia. He assessed that this assistance stemmed both from shared faith and from ancestral vows, noting that many Russian volunteers came to aid the Serb people in various wars throughout history. "Russia and the Russian people made a major contribution not only to the defense of Orthodoxy and the Serb people, but also to Serb statehood," Ostojić stated. He stressed that 37 of them gave their lives for Republika Srpska and deserve to be remembered forever. "As long as we preserve the memory of them and pray for their souls, they will live on, and so will Srpska and freedom," Ostojić said, adding that the wartime path of Russian volunteers was marked by chivalry, respect, but also Golgotha, sacrifice, and suffering. He pointed out that the last century, as well as earlier periods, were marked by wars and great sacrifices, and that in all of them Serbs could rely only on the help of their Russian brothers. "That was also the case during the wars of the 1990s. At a time when the entire world, especially the West, Arab and Muslim countries, sided with our enemies, the only ones we could expect help from, and who did provide it, were our Russian brothers. Although geographically distant, they were very close at heart," Ostojić noted. He reminded that Russia also made a significant contribution to the conclusion of the Dayton Peace Accords, as well as to maintaining peace in this region. "Even today, Russia continues to make a major contribution in international organizations to ensure that, through various resolutions and declarations, the Serb people are not labeled as genocidal, because they have never been," Ostojić concluded.