Initiative launched to honor Churkin in Srebrenica

Eastern Alternative Citizen Association has filed a request to honor Russia's late UN ambassador Vitaly Churkin with a memorial bust in Srebrenica.

Initiative launched to honor Churkin in Srebrenica

Eastern Alternative Citizen Association has filed a request to honor Russia's late UN ambassador Vitaly Churkin with a memorial bust in Srebrenica.

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Eastern Initiative President Vojin Pavlovic said that the initiative was motivated by Churkin stance in favor of "truth, and of preventing a British UN Security Council resolution on Srebrenica."

The Serb entity's public broadcaster RTRS reported this on Monday, citing the agency SRNA.

"As the ambassador of Russia, a permanent member of the UN Security Council, Churkin contributed to peace and stability in Bosnia-Herzegovina and with his engagement contributed to spreading the truth about the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina, and to dispelling the Western stereotypes that put all the blame for the war and the suffering on Serbs," Pavlovic stressed.

Eastern Alternative believes that the Serb people in Srebrenica, and in the RS, should in this way pay their homage and express their gratitude to Russia, and to Churkin, he said.

Pavlovic expects the municipality to agree with the plan quickly - so that the bust can be installed by July 12, the Serbian Orthodox Christian holiday of Petrovdan (the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul) - that also marks the anniversary of the great suffering of Serbs in the Srebrenica municipality (in 1992).

Eastern Alternative will not desist from its proposal "at any price," Pavlovic noted.

Vitaly Churkin died suddenly in New York earlier this month, a day before his 65th birthday.

Reacting to his passing, Serbian officials described the Russian diplomat as "a great friend" of their country and nation, while President Tomislav Nikolic awarded Churkin posthumously with a state honor.