Wreaths laid at WWI Armistice Day commemorations in Belgrade

BELGRADE - At Serbia's main state ceremony that commemorated WWI Armistice Day, wreaths were laid at the Memorial Ossuary of WWI Defenders of Belgrade at the capital's New Cemetery on Monday.

The wreaths were laid by Serbian Minister of Labour, Employment and Veteran and Social affairs Nemanja Starovic - who also heads a committee tasked with cherishing the tradition of Serbia's liberation wars - FM Marko Djuric and City of Belgrade Assembly Speaker Nikola Nikodijevic, as well as by the head of the EU Delegation to Serbia Emanuele Giaufret, US Ambassador Christopher Hill, delegations of the Serbian Ministry of Defence and the Serbian Armed Forces, representatives of associations cherishing the tradition of the liberation wars, veteran organisations and other foreign diplomatic representatives.

"Those who fought and sacrificed themselves for Serbia's freedom must never be forgotten," Starovic said.

"Their courage and love of the fatherland must be an eternal beacon for us. Decades of unjustified oblivion have given way to new times in which the most glorious generation in the history of our nation is receiving the worthy love and respect of their descendants and the state," he said.

"The lesson is very clear - peace and freedom are priceless," he said.

Wreaths were also laid at the French military graveyard as well as at a memorial ossuary of Russian soldiers killed in WWI.

Djuric laid a wreath at the grave of former Serbian PM Nikola Pasic.

As a special envoy of the Government of Serbia, Minister of Information and Telecommunications Dejan Ristic laid a laurel wreath at the Commonwealth war graveyard in Belgrade.