Marking Friendship Between Russia and Slovenia

On July 25, a solemn ceremony took place at the Russian Chapel below the Vršič Pass. The event was dedicated to the 110th anniversary of the historical and cultural monument, as well as the 30th anniversary of the Slovenia-Russia Friendship Society.

Among the numerous guests, more than 450 people took part, including:
• Ambassador of Russia to Slovenia Timur Eyvazov;
• Mayor of Ljubljana Zoran Janković;
• Mayor of the Kranjska Gora Municipality H. Zupan;
• Minister of the Government of Moscow, Head of the Department for External Economic and International Relations of Moscow Sergey Cheremin;
• Chairman of the Slovenia-Russia Friendship Society Saša Geržina;
• as well as embassy staff, prominent politicians, heads of Slovenian veterans’ organizations, representatives of Slovenian business, compatriots, and local residents.

Timur Eyvazov and Sergey Cheremin laid a wreath at the mass grave of Russian prisoners of war near the Russian Chapel. A memorial service was conducted by His Grace Bishop Kirill of Buenos Aires and South-Central America, Administrator of the Zagreb-Ljubljana Metropolitanate of the Serbian Orthodox Church.

The wooden Orthodox chapel on the high-altitude Vršič Pass in the Julian Alps is dedicated to Saint Prince Vladimir, Equal to the Apostles. It was built in 1916 by Russian prisoners of war at the site where their comrades died in a snow avalanche. In total, during World War I, at least 10,000 compatriots died in Austro-Hungarian prisoner-of-war camps on the territory of present-day Slovenia. Since the early 1990s, solemn ceremonies in memory of the fallen have been held annually near the Russian Chapel on the last weekend of July.

The events at the Russian Chapel below Vršič remain a symbol of friendship between the Russian and Slovenian peoples.