Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to Belgrade on January 17 was one of the most important events in Russian-Serbian relations, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Sunday.
“The visit of President Vladimir Putin in January was one of the most important events for Russian-Serbian relations, and its results are far-reaching both at the political and economic level,” Vucic told a meeting with head of Russia’s Federal Agency for the Commonwealth of Independent States, Compatriots Living Abroad and International Humanitarian Cooperation Eleonora Mitrofanova.
Vucic also thanked Russia for earmarking funds for decorating the interior of the Church of Saint Sava. Serbia has spent €10 mln on the church’s construction.
In her turn, Mitrofanova said “spiritual ties between the peoples are a basis for developing relations at all levels.”
Earlier Russian company Gazprom Neft signed an agreement with the Serbian Orthodox Church on financing works on decorating the altar. The sum of construction has not been revealed, but during his recent visit to Belgrade Putin said a decision had been made on allocating more than $5 mln on restoring the church.
According to Vucic, the works on mosaic of the church would be wrapped up this year by the 800th anniversary of the Serbian Orthodox Church’s autocephaly. The Serbian president expects the church to become a symbol of Russian-Serbian friendship and brotherhood.
Church of St. Sava
The monumental building, which spans to the area of 7,570 square meters and reaches up to 65 meters in height, is currently being built in Belgrade on the Vracar plateau, where the remains of Serbia’s national hero St. Sava were burned in by Ottoman forces in the late 16th century. The project was launched in 1894. However, finalizing and approval of the project took many years, and construction works began only in 1935. The construction was halted during World War II to be resumed only in May 1986. The church, which is yet to be finished, opened its doors in 2004.
Since 2015, Russia’s Federal Agency for the Commonwealth of Independent States, Compatriots Living Abroad and International Humanitarian Cooperation (Rossotrudnichestvo) has been the main coordinator of decorative works at the church.