The Speaker of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia Maja Gojkovic met today with the Chairman of the Russian Federation Council Committee on Foreign Affairs Konstantin Kosachev and the head of the Federation Council Friendship Group with Serbia Valery Ryazansky, visiting Belgrade under the auspices of the 74th anniversary of the victory against fascism and Nazism in World War II and the Immortal Regiment event.
Gojkovic congratulated Victory Day, 9 May, stressing that it, as many other important dates in the two countries’ relationship, further strengthen the ties between Serbia and Russia and their peoples. Gojkovic said that Serbia was always on the right side and suffered enormous losses in the fight against fascism and Nazism for the freedom of Serbia and Europe, warning against revisionism of history to prevent any such suffering in future.
Kosachev said that Victory Day is a very important date because the victory over Nazism gave humanity the opportunity to develop freely and have good international relations, based on the UN Charter, and went on to emphasize the importance of maintaining international law and abiding by UNSC resolutions in modern times.
“The people of Serbia and Russia are the victors of WWII. We are here today because we want to be with the friendly Serbian people and celebrate Victory Day”, said Kosachev.
Gojkovic said that the relationship between Serbia and Russia, firmly grounded in traditional friendship and historical closeness, is booming across the board, and the reciprocal visits of the two countries’ highest dignitaries have intensified in the last few years, with President Vladimir Putin’s visit lending special importance to the their bilateral relations.
Gojkovic said that Serbia is grateful to Russia for never voting against its interests and for the understanding and support in the Kosovo-Metohija issue, stressing the radicalization of Pristina’s moves as evidenced by its violation of the rules of free trade with the imposition of the 100% customs tariff on goods from central Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina and decision to establish the so called “Kosovo Army”.
Gojkovic reaffirmed Serbia’s stance that it will never impose sanctions on Russia and never vote against the interest of the Russian delegation in international parliamentary forums.
Gojkovic and Kosachev stressed that interparliamentary cooperation, which is exceptionally good and broad, is an important segment of the two countries’ overall relations and agreed to continue cooperation at all parliamentary levels and between the parliaments’ standing delegations, especially in the Inter-Parliamentary Union, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and other international parliamentary organizations.
They also spoke about the coming 141st IPU assembly in Belgrade, 13 – 17 October, which Gojkovic hopes would be attended by a high-tier Russian delegation.
Kosachev said that the Federation Council had adopted the “Statement on the 20th anniversary of the NATO military operation against Yugoslavia” and called on the NATO member states to admit that it was a tragic mistake, worse than crime.
