Christian Kids from Syria to Holiday at Russian Camp Due to Russian Generosity… Americans Nowhere to Be Seen

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On Monday, 100 children from the Damask Orthodox Shelter in the Mar Tekla Monastery in the Christian village of Ma’loula shall arrive in Moscow for a two-week vacation in a Russian holiday camp. V I Yakunin, the head of the Centre of National Glory supervisory board, one of the backers of the project, told us, “I’m certain that the Syrian kids will remember their stay in a Russian camp for their whole lives. I hope that this would be able to redirect the kids from the horrible events that befell them”. The kids will meet Patriarch Kirill Gundyaev of Moscow and all the Russias, have a tour around Moscow, take part in projects, and do sports. The Centre, together with the Andrei Pervozvanny Foundation, arranged holidays for kids from hot spots in the past… ten years ago, it sponsored some 540 children from Kosovo and Metohija.

The three years of conflict in Syria completely or partly destroyed some 1,600 schools and more than half of all hospitals. According to UN estimates, more than 9 million refugees inside Syria and more than 2 million in neighbouring countries are now in need of help. UNICEF estimated that the number of Syrian children living in poverty reached 6.6 million in June 2014. In the past, Russia assisted Syria. In 2013, the MChS sent 200 tons of humanitarian aid to Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan. In return, the Syrian government decided to introduce the Russian language into the school curriculum starting in the 2014/15 school year.

28 July 2014

Rossiya Segodnya

http://en.ria.ru/society/20140728/191376506/Russia-to-Host-100-Syrian-Orthodox-Children-for-Two-Week.html

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Serbia Opposed to “Reduction of Mandate” for EULEX in Kosovo

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On Monday, at the Patriarchate of Peć, Aleksandar Vulin, the Minister without Portfolio for Kosovo and Metohija, said, “The rumours about the reduction of the international community‘s mandate in Kosovo constitute a reason for concern. The Serbian government is against such moves”. Vulin expressed concern over the announcements of cuts in the number of soldiers of the international forces “at the holiest sites, which were targeted by violence and constant attacks and other expressions of hatred”. He said that the rumours about the reduction of EULEX troops in the south and the reduction of the international community’s mandate are very worrying, and added that Belgrade is against such moves. He emphasised that EULEX came to the area in accordance with a decision of the UN Security Council and only a decision of the UN Security Council can change it. Vulin noted, “A potential change in the mandate of EULEX isn’t an issue Priština can unilaterally decide on, this is a matter on which a decision can be made only by the body in keeping with whose will EULEX came to the area in the first place”.

15 October 2013

B92

http://www.b92.net/eng/news/politics.php?yyyy=2013&mm=10&dd=15&nav_id=88009