On the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Belgrade in World War II, the Embassy organized a reception on October 17, as well as a cultural and artistic multimedia program, followed by a buffet. Among the approximately 350 guests of honor, there were 50 war veterans, Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Serbia Aleksandar Vulin, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Aleksandr Grushko, official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova, the entire staff of the Fourth European Department of the Russian Foreign Ministry, senators of the Federation Council, members of the State Duma, high-ranking officials of the relevant ministries of the Russian Federation, representatives of the Governments of Moscow and St. Petersburg. Among the guests were the head of the Metochion of the Serbian Orthodox Church under the Moscow Patriarchate Bishop Stefan of Remesia, adviser to the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Archpriest Nikolai Balashov, heads of several universities, libraries, representatives of Serbian and Russian business, the Nikola Tesla Association, as well as numerous Serbian students who helped the Embassy organize this event.
In addition to Ambassador Momčilo Babić, the Deputy Prime Minister of Serbia Aleksandar Vulin, Assistant to the Russian Foreign Ministry Aleksandr Grushko, State Duma deputy Maria Butina, and a high representative of the Moscow Council of Veterans, Colonel General R. Akchurin addressed the audience with an appropriate speech.
As part of the cultural and artistic program, the choir of the Academic Song and Dance Ensemble of the Russian Army named after A. V. Alexandrov and the Serbian graduate student of the Gnessin Russian Academy of Music Matija Stepanović performed.
The program and speeches by officials were accompanied by the broadcast of documentaries about the battles for the liberation of Belgrade, as well as original photo exibition testifying to the joint actions of the Red Army and Yugoslav, that is Serbian, partisans. The Embassy also hosted an exhibition of documentary photographs "Operation Belgrade 1944", which aroused great interest among those present.
Particular attention was drawn to the presence of a 102-year-old participant of the Second World War, Yekaterina Ivanovna Evdokimova, who expressed her deep gratitude to the Ambassador and the staff of the Embassy for the exceptional program with an abundance of documentary material that reminded her of the war days.