Popovic: Russia has always supported Serbia in the most difficult times

BELGRADE - The Serbs are immeasurably grateful to the brotherly Russian people for the unreserved support in the most difficult times in Serbian history, Nenad Popovic, Serbia's minister for international economic cooperation and the social position of the church at home and abroad, said on Thursday.

Ahead of the anniversary of the Russian Empire's entry into WWI as an ally of the Kingdom of Serbia, Popovic said that, on August 1, 1914, Russia - in spite of internal instability, starvation and reforms that had only just begun - had entered the Great War as a Serbian ally.

"The decision by Emperor Nicholas II Romanov to protect Serbia and the Serbs represents one of the most sublime examples of political responsibility and spiritual solidarity in the history of Europe. It was not merely a military intervention, but also a deep moral and allied commitment to take the right side, regardless of the cost," Popovic said in an official statement.

Popovic highlighted the role of Emperor Nicholas II during the Serbian army's retreat across Albania.

"In January 1916, after weeks of hesitation by the Western allies, the emperor sent a depeche with an ultimatum to the king of Great Britain and the president of France to warn them that Russia, unless the Serbian army was immediately rescued from Albania, would abandon the alliance with the Entente and make separate peace with Germany. Thanks to that strong diplomatic pressure, the Serbian army was evacuated and transferred to Corfu, where it continued its fight for freedom. That historic gesture by the Russian emperor must be forever remembered by the Serbs. Russia did not enter WWI for the sake of its own interests, but to protect Serbia," the minister noted.

Russia was Serbia's biggest supplier of arms, food and materiel from 1914 to 1916, Popovic said.