SERBIAN CHILDREN RETURNING HOME AFTER HOLIDAYING IN RUSSIA RIA Novosti

SERBIAN CHILDREN RETURNING HOME AFTER HOLIDAYING IN RUSSIA
RIA Novosti - June 23, 2004

MOSCOW, June 23 (RIA Novosti) - Children of Kosovo Serbs are returning from Russia to their homeland. In the afternoon on Wednesday 540 Serb children who had a rest in Russian children's summer camps from June 2 are to fly from the Domodedovo Airport to Belgrade.

"These are 9-14 year old children with especially tragic fate. Many of them lost their parents, their homes, suffered during hostilities and genocide against the Serb population of Kosovo and Metohija, RIA Novosti was told at the Andrew the First Called Foundation which initiated and organized the humanitarian action for the Kosovo children jointly with the center of Russia's National Glory.

The Serb children were accommodated in eleven summer camps and sanatoria in Central Russia. They enjoyed their time, went sightseeing and visited churches.

A gala concert took place in the Christ the Savior Cathedral in Moscow, where the Serbian children met with patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Alexy II.

The Adrew the First Called Foundation is a public organization set up in 1992.

One of the key directions of its work became aid in overcoming the aftermaths of the Kosovo tragedy. (On March 17-19, 2004, the Albanian extremists carried out so -called ethnic cleansings in Kosovo and Metohija as a result of which 19 people were killed, and about 1,000 Serbs were wounded.)

On January 4-7, 2004, with the Foundation being one of the initiators, a delegation which included Russian statesmen, public and religious figures and leading mass media visited Serbian settlements in Kosovo and Metohija within the framework of the program "Orthodox Christmas in Kosovo". In the wake of the visit appeals were forwarded to the Parliamentary Assembly of Europe, the United Nations Organisation and UNESCO which assessed what took place in Kosovo as a genocide taking place nowadays in the center of civilized Europe. It was then that on the initiative of the Andrew the First Called Foundation a decision was taken on inviting the Serb children from Kosovo and Metohija to have a rest in Russian summer camps and sanatoria within the program "Kosovo Children."