Serbian president honours Russian UN delegation for support on Srebrenica

Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić has presented awards to the members of the Russian delegation at the UN for not supporting the "anti-Serbian" resolution to designate 11 July as the International Day of Reflection and Commemoration of the 1995 Genocide in Srebrenica.

The president of Serbia presented the Order of the Serbian Flag, First Class, to Vasily Nebenzya, the Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the UN, and the Order of the Serbian Flag, Second Class, to Anna Evstigneeva and Maria Zabolotskaya, the Deputy Permanent Representatives of Russia to the UN.  

"I would like to once again thank you for the friendly relations we are developing and for the help you provided us here in New York during the discussion of the resolution on the Srebrenica genocide. I hope we can continue to strengthen cooperation between our peoples and our countries to a level with which we will all be satisfied," Vučić stated on Facebook.

On 23 May, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution establishing 11 July as the International Day of Reflection and Commemoration of the 1995 Genocide in Srebrenica, a resolution that was actively opposed by Serbia and its allies.

A total of 84 countries voted in favour of the resolution on Srebrenica, including Ukraine and all Balkan states except Serbia, but including Bosnia and Herzegovina. 19 UN members voted against it, including Russia, Belarus, and Hungary (which had declared such intentions).

Milorad Dodik, President of the Republic of Srpska, stated before the vote that he would propose an agreement on the "peaceful separation" of the Republic of Srpska from Bosnia and Herzegovina within the next 30 days following the adoption of the resolution.