VUČEVIĆ HEADING TO MRKONJIĆ GRAD ON MOTORBIKE

NOVI SAD, AUGUST 3 /SRNA/ - Serbian Progressive Party /SNS/ leader Miloš Vučević set off by motorbike, together with other motorcyclists, for Mrkonjić Grad, where he will attend tomorrow's commemoration marking 31 years since Operation Storm, in which Croatian military and police forces expelled at least 220,000 Serbs and killed more than 1,900 of them.

"A few minutes after six in the morning, we are setting off from here, from Novi Sad, more precisely from Paragovo, towards Republika Srpska. The main reason for our journey is certainly the commemoration of 31 years since the terrible pogrom and suffering of Serbs from Republika Srpska Krajina in the criminal operation Storm," Vučević said on Instagram. Vučević, who is also an adviser to the President of Serbia on regional affairs, said that Serbia does not forget the Krajina Serbs and that he was pleased that people from different areas where Serbs live had joined him on the journey today, many of whom would be visiting Mrkonjić Grad and Šipovo for the first time. "Regardless of the area in which we live, we belong to the same people, speak the same language, use the same script, and are bound by the same faith. Only a united Serbia can win. We are heading to Republika Srpska," Vučević said. Serbia and Republika Srpska will mark tomorrow in Mrkonjić Grad the Day of Remembrance for the Serbs killed and expelled in the Croatian military and police operation Storm. The operation Storm began on August 4, 1995, with an offensive by the Croatian Army and police, as well as HVO units, in the areas of Banija, Lika, Kordun and northern Dalmatia, during which more than 220,000 Krajina Serbs were expelled from their ancestral homes. The updated records of Veritas include the names of 1,904 Serbs who were killed or went missing during and after this operation, including 1,250 civilians, around three-quarters of whom were over the age of 60. The victims also include 10 children under the age of 14 and 566 women, around four-fifths of whom were over the age of 60. In its ruling from February 2015, the International Court of Justice qualified Storm as ethnic cleansing, but not as genocide, although international experts in the field argue that the operation had all the characteristics of genocide.