"MFA did not recommend sending veterans to Moscow"

"MFA did not recommend sending veterans to Moscow"

BELGRADE -- Ivica Dacic has denied his ministry had sent a recommendation to the president regarding the participation of Serbian soldiers in the Moscow Victory Day parade.

Reportedly, this recommendation said that Serbia should send Second World War veterans instead of members of the Serbian Army (VS) Guard.

"No recommendation has been sent to the president, and nobody has asked for it," the foreign minister told the Belgrade-based daily Politika, stressing that President Tomislav Nikolic made the decision to accept the Russian invitation "independently and in line with the Constitution and laws."

Dacic, however, confirmed that the issue was discussed by the collegium of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, adding that this body "is expected to discuss all aspects of the decisions that are important in terms of foreign policy."

But the newspaper quoted a source close to the government that said the MFA had in fact sent the recommendation to the Presidency - and one with "the facsimile of the signature of Roksanda Nincic," a state secretary with the ministry.

The author of the "letter" sent to the president has been named as Assistant Minister Goran Aleksic.

Meanwhile, the preparations of the Serbian soldiers for the Victory Day parade in Moscow are in full swing, said the daily, adding that 73 service men and women are rehearsing for their May 9 march on Red Square.

Corvette Captain Jovan Krivokapic, a spokesperson of the Ministry of Defense, told Politika that this will be the second time in recent history that such a large number of Serbian soldiers will take part in a military parade abroad.