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The monument was desecrated on the night of Tuesday to Wednesday, when the flames were extinguished by unknown persons and on it was painted “Liberators? No, never” and a hammer and sickle were crossed out.
The monument was illuminated in a solemn ceremony by Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic during Lavrov’s recent visit.
Vesić: Perpetrators must be severely punished
Belgrade Deputy Mayor Goran Vesic said police were trying to identify the perpetrators.
“I strongly condemn this violent act directed against all those who heroically gave their lives for the liberation of Belgrade,” Vesić wrote in Facebook profile.
He stated that it was an “abnormal and sceneless” act, adding that he would personally try to identify the perpetrators as soon as possible and punish them as severely as possible.
Vesić announced that the “Eternal Fire” monument will be repaired on January 6.
Embassy on the desecration of monuments: a cynical attempt
The Embassy of the Russian Federation in Belgrade announced that it was deeply moved by the “barbarous desecration” of the Eternal Fire in the Cemetery of the Liberators in Belgrade and noted the urgent reaction of the Serbian leaders, the competent state organs, the authorities of the capital and SUBNOR to this event.
The embassy evaluated this act as a “cynical attempt” to classify Serbia among the European countries in which the war against anti-fascist monuments and the rewriting of history acquired a systemic character.
The Embassy statement indicates that they do not rule out the possibility that the authors of this, as it is said, cowardly acted by external order, in order to provoke discord in the fraternal relations between the two peoples.
“We are sure that it will not happen in Serbia. We are convinced that joint efforts will fully restore the monument in the coming days. We count that the vandals will be deservedly punished. Our sacred duty is to respect the memory of the heroic ancestors who gave their life for the liberation of the world “. of the misanthropic ideology of Nazism, “the embassy said.
It is added that they still intend to defend anti-fascist values from any attack and to give priority attention to military-commemorative and investigative work, in which, they say, they have the support of the Serbian public.
