Serbs rally in Belgrade with calls for unity in a volatile region as Russia gives its support

By DUSAN STOJANOVIC
Associated Press

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Serbia’s populist president has called for peace and harmony in the Balkans even as he and the Bosnian Serb separatist leader organized a large nationalist gathering that featured calls for “unity” of all Serbs in the region. Such messages have raised eyebrows in neighboring states. The “All-Serb Assembly” with a slogan “One People, One Gathering” included thousands of Bosnian Serbs and those who traveled to the Serbian capital, Belgrade, from neighboring countries including Montenegro and North Macedonia. The meeting came only weeks after the U.N. General Assembly voted to designate July 11 as an international day of reflection and commemoration of the 1995 Srebrenica genocide of more than 8,000 Bosnian Muslims killed by Bosnian Serb forces.