Bosnian Serbs unveil monument to Russian mercenaries

VISEGRAD, Bosnia – Bosnian Serbs have erected a monument to Russian mercenaries who were killed while fighting alongside their forces during the Balkan country’s brutal 1992-95 war.

The 5.5 metres (18 feet)-high monument was unveiled Wednesday on a hill overlooking the eastern town of Visegrad in the presence of Bosnian Serb war veterans and some of the surviving Russian mercenaries. Bosnian Serb authorities say 37 Russian mercenaries were killed while fighting in Bosnia, seven of them in Visegrad.

Visegrad was the site of some of the most gruesome atrocities committed by Serbs during the conflict. By the end of the war, some 3,000 Muslim Bosniaks were killed.

A small number of survivors who have since returned to the town protested the monument, saying it was an “award” for the killing of innocent victims.