Bosnian Serbs May Name Street After Late Russian UN Envoy Churkin

BELGRADE (Sputnik) — The proposal to rename a street in Republika Srpska’s largest city Banja Luka as a tribute to Churkin for his blocking of a controversial UN vote on the Srebrenica massacre was initiated by the city’s parliament member, Marinko Dragisic, at a request by the local community.

"Vitaly Churkin’s name will go down in the history of the Serbian people. Naming a street in his honor is the least we can do to thank him for standing up for us in difficult times," Dragisic said.

The Russian diplomat passed away in February a day before turning 65. In 2015, he vetoed a UN draft resolution that sought to recognize the 1995 killing of some 8,000 Muslims by a Bosnian Serb army as genocide. Churkin explained this could have deepened divisions inside Bosnia, made up of a Christian Serbian and a Muslim Bosniak entities.