DEPUTY Prime Minister Boris Milosevic is going to Knin with a heavy cross on his shoulders, to end the hatred that dominates in Croatia and Croatian-Serbian relations," the leader of the Independent Democratic Serb Party (SDSS), Milorad Pupovac, told Serbian media on Tuesday.

Speaking in an interview with the public broadcaster RTS, Pupovac said that Milosevic was going to Knin "on the most difficult day in the recent history of the Serbs in Croatia."

"That's why this cross is so heavy and that's why it gives rise to so many misunderstandings. But this cross should result in the Croats recognising the suffering of the Serbs, those who were killed in the aftermath of Operation Storm, those who were killed while fleeing from the Storm. It should also result in the Serbs recognising the suffering of the Croats during the war in Croatia and in turning a new page, a page of true peace in Croatia," Pupovac said.

"He is not going there to give legitimacy to anything"

He said that people "on the other side" too should realise and turn a new page, adding that "our compatriots who fled and started a new life in Serbia can decide what they will do with what they left behind, a wealth that has been created by our people for centuries."

Asked if Boris Milosevic hesitated after hearing negative reactions both from Serb refugees and some of the Serbs who stayed in Croatia, Pupovac said that Milosevic was not going to Knin to celebrate.

"He is going with the same feeling that we share on that day. He is not going there to give legitimacy to anything. He is going there to close a page of the war so that messages of peace can start coming from all the places in Croatia that are commemorating or celebrating something, messages of compassion with the Serbs and messages of regret over what happened," Pupovac said.

Asked if Milosevic's attendance in Knin and the attendance of Veterans' Minister Tomo Medved at a commemoration in Grubori, a village where Serb civilians were killed in the wake of Operation Storm, could change the attitude towards the Serbs in Croatia, Pupovac said that after the formation of the new government in Croatia "we have realised that a step in that direction can be made and more resolute action can be taken to punish acts of verbal and physical violence against Serbs in Croatia."

Clearing up the war legacy

He called for more determined action to clear up the war legacy that was burdening Croatia. "An atmosphere, a spirit of war and messages of war emerge every now and then, disturbing people and creating a state of conscientiousness in people that they can attack other people just because they are different," Pupovac said.

He told his ethnic kin that they should not fear that Boris Milosevic would say or do something that would further aggravate their pain.

The main commemoration of the Serb victims of Operation Storm will be held this evening in Sremska Raca, a village near the border with Croatia through which thousands of Croatian Serb refugees entered Serbia while fleeing the Croatian military offensive 25 years ago.

The commemoration will be attended by President Aleksandar Vucic, Prime Minister Ana Brnabic, Republika Srpska President Zeljka Cvijanovic, representatives of the Serbs in Croatia, and children from the refugee column, RTS said.

Two non-governmental organisations from the northern Serbian province of Vojvodina, the Croatian Civic Alliance and the Croatian Democratic Forum, welcomed the announcement that representatives of the Serb minority in Croatia would attend the celebration of Operation Storm in Knin and that a Croatian state delegation would attend the commemoration in Grubori.