Russia vetoes a UN resolution condemning the 1995 Srebrenica massacre in

Russia’s Churkin and China’s UN Ambassador Liu Jieyi appealed to the council not to put the resolution to a vote, citing divisions among its 15 members.

“Russia’s veto is heartbreaking for those families and it is a further stain on this council’s record”, said US Ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, who was a 24-year-old journalist in Bosnia when the massacre took place.

“The worldwide community must recommit itself to bringing to justice once and for all those who perpetrated these heinous crimes”, said Rep. Smith ahead of the vote. The act of genocide and ethnic cleansing was the biggest war crime in Europe since the end of the Second World War.

“During the day, we have had enormous number of consultations with various representatives from countries which are members of United Nations Security Council and according to our knowledge, resolution in the current form accusing Serbia and Bosnian Serb republic, undoubtedly will not be adopted in the Security Council”, he said.

Thousands of marchers in Bosnia and Herzegovina have joined survivors of Europe’s worst mass killing since the Holocaust: the slaughter of some 8,000 Muslim boys and men by Bosnian Serb forces during five days in 1995.

Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin slammed the draft resolution as “not constructive, confrontational and politically motivated” and argued that it unfairly singled out Bosnian Serbs for atrocities committed during the war. The worldwide Criminal Tribunal for the ex- Yugoslavia in the Netherlands officially deemed the tragedy a genocide in 2004.

The Guardian reports that news of £1.2m donation comes at start of week of services to mark 20th anniversary of deaths of 8,000 men and boys in Bosnian town.

More than 100,000 were killed and millions displaced, with Srebrenica standing out as the worst of the many atrocities.

“The European parliament strongly condemns the Srebrenica genocide and solemnly announces that such a heinous crimes must never happen again and that it will do everything in its power that it is not repeated, refuses every denial, relativization and false interpretation of genocide”, the document stresses.

Serbia’s President Tomislav Nikolic proclaimed “this is a great day for Serbia” after the Russian veto, which he said prevented the “stigmatization of the entire Serbian people”.

In addition to being the primary victims at Srebrenica, individuals with Bosniak heritage comprise the vast majority of the victims during the conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina as a whole, especially among the civilian population. Their bodies were found in about 60 mass graves around Srebrenica.

It was then that they received a visit from General Ratko Mladic, the commander of the Bosnian Serb forces who is now on trial for war crimes.

“The Serbian government decided that I should represent Serbia in Srebrenica”, Mr Vucic said after an emergency late-night cabinet meeting.

Munira Subasic, president of the Mothers of Srebrenica association and who lost 22 relatives in the massacre, including her husband and son, this week lamented that many mothers were still unable to bury their dead.