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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Role of Serbian-Russian humanitarian centre to solve emergency situations in entire region

Nis, 24 September 2013

Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior Ivica Dacic and Russian Minister of Emergency Situations Vladimir Puchkov discussed today in Nis the final activities on the legal regulation of the Serbian-Russian humanitarian centre, its equipment and location in the city of Nis.

Vladimir Puchkov and Ivica Dacic

Author: Tanjug

Dacic and Puchkov stressed at a joint press conference held at City Hall in Nis that the Serbian-Russian humanitarian centre shall respond to all emergencies caused by natural disasters, both in Serbia and in the countries of the region at the invitation of the local governments.

Dacic said that he spoke with First Deputy Prime Minister of Serbia Aleksandar Vucic and Minister of Defence Nebojsa Rodic about the appropriate location for the centre in Nis, and that this issue will be solved in the next few weeks.

That could be part of the "Stevan Sindjelic" military barracks, which would be transferred to the Ministry of the Interior and would be Serbia's share in the formation of the centre, Dacic added.

The Prime Minister reiterated that that is not a military base, but a humanitarian centre, which will have around 30 employees.

All the necessary equipment for the assistance to people in emergency situations, as well as food, medicines and clothes will be kept in the centre and will be available upon need.

Dacic expressed his hope that Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit the centre during his visit to Serbia, which will most likely happen once the works on the construction of the South Stream have started.

Dacic gave special thanks to Puchkov for the participation of Russian deminers in the clean-up of fields from explosive ordinance left over from the 1999 NATO bombing.

He recalled that the demining was financed by the Russian government and that during that operation, more than 12,000 different explosives were removed, which saved many lives.

Vladimir Puchkov

Author: Tanjug

Puchkov said that the Russian government decided this year to finance the humanitarian centre with $27 million, which will be spent for the equipment of the centre and the procurement of the necessary machinery, such as fire and rescue vehicles, robots and special devices.

He stated that around $60 million were used for the demining of 3.7 million square meters, and that the Russian government decided in August this year to allocate significant funding for the centre’s work until 2016.

Dacic and Puchkov recalled that the Russian aircraft were putting out fires last year not only in Serbia but also in Montenegro, Greece and Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Earlier today Dacic and Puchkov attended at the Nis airport "Constantine the Great" a demonstration flight of the Russian fire aircraft “Beriev Be- 200".

Beriev Be- 200

Author: Tanjug

The Russian aircraft is deployed at this airport in order to help the colleagues from the Department for Emergency Situations of the Serbian Ministry of the Interior in extinguishing fires and will be there until 30 September.