First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Ivica Dacic today attended a ceremony of unveiling a bust of former Russian Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Yevgeny Primakov (1929-2015) in the Russian Center for Science and Culture, in honor of the ninetieth birth anniversary of this Russian and Soviet statesman.

The bust was unveiled by his widow Irina Primakova and its author, a Russian sculptor Andrey Tirtishnikov, a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

President of Serbia Aleksandar Vucic emphasized that Yevgeny Primakov – Russian politician who left an indelible mark upon Russian and international politics – was famous in Serbia for his "U-turn over the Atlantic".
"Today when the Russian Federation celebrates National Unity Day, all across our beloved Russia, they also celebrate the 90th birth anniversary of the founding father of modern Russian diplomacy, a great statesman who with his visionary policies reserved for himself a lasting place not only in the Russian but the world history as well. He left an ineffaceable mark", President Vucic said.

"We sincerely respect what he did for Russia but also what he did for Serbia," President of Serbia pointed out adding that Primakov helped Serbia in its fight for freedom and to us to be masters of our own fate. That was why the Serbian people will never forget him, he noted.

The Ambassador of the Russian Federation underlined that Yevgeny Primakov was very fond of Serbia and the Serb people.

"As time goes by, with each passing year what Primakov did as a politician, diplomat, scientist and great humanist gains in importance", Botsan-Kharchenko said.

A former Russian Prime Minister and Primakov's close friend said that even though no longer with us Primakov was one of the most popular and most respected figures in Russia.
"He was not corrupted by power and remained a great man", Stepashin said.

On the occasion of Primakov's 90th birth anniversary on 29 October his monument was unveiled in the vicinity of the building of the Russian Foreign Ministry.