By Bernama,
Moscow : Russia will actively join UNESCO efforts to restore religious monuments in Kosovo, Russia’s news agency Itar-Tass quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Yakovenko as saying in an interview with Rossiyskaya Gazeta published on Thursday.
Russian participation will be not only material. The country “will provide the necessary organidsational and expert resources and will, in particular, dispatch to the Serbian province highly skilled architects, designers and engineers, as well as artistic experts for arranging the restoration works,” he said.
UNESCO determined seven Orthodox Church and six Muslim monuments subject for restoration in the near future in Kosovo. Russia will agree with UNESCO the list of objects it will restore.
“I am convinced that Russian assistance in the restoration of Orthodox Church monuments will be highly appraised in Belgrade. It is a logical continuation of the Russian policy in the Balkans,” Yakovenko said.
Over 150 Orthodox Church cathedrals, including those listed by UNESCO as world heritage, have been ruined in Kosovo since 2000. Belgrade actively supports UNESCO initiative to restore and preserve the monuments of Orthodox Church culture of historic significance for the world community.