Famed Russian war volunteer Andiyev to be laid to rest on Monday in Belgrade's Central Cemetery

Photo: Telegraf

Russian Albert Akhsarbekovich Andiyev, originally from South Ossetia, who traveled thousands of kilometers in 1999 to help Serbians fight in Kosovo and Metohija, and who died in the Covid hospital in Batajnica, will be buried on Monday in the Central Cemetery in Belgrade.

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He will be seen off to the place of his eternal rest at noon.

Andi, who lost one eye in the fighting, was wounded in the arm, and gained fame in the battlefield, failed to beat the virus. He passed away after spending seven days in the hospital.

In the fighting in Kosovo, the Russian volunteer lost his right eye and decided to stay in Serbia after the war, got married and had a son, Lazar.

"I told my son: your destiny will be difficult, you will never be able to love Russia more than Serbia and you will not be able to love Serbia more than Russia, you will have to love them equally," he said during a ceremony to mark the 20th anniversary of the NATO bombing of Serbia, held in Kragujevac.

Upon his arrival in Kosovo, Albert Ahsarbekovic Andiyev was deployed as a sniper in the 549th Motorized Brigade, which defended the state border with Albania and Macedonia in the length of 150 kilometers.

He lost an eye in the war, was wounded in the arm and was 100 percent disabled as a war veteran.

His friends and admirers are saying their goodbyes to the man in whom they saw only a pure soul and heroic strength.

"Thank you for everything you have done for the Serbian people, thank you for defending our country, thank you for being a part of our people," wrote one of the friends.

"I can't believe it, may you rest in peace, hero, you returned to Kosovo and Metohija and entered the legend," was one of the comments.

Emotional comments, sadness and disbelief, follow one another in these messages...

"Glory to you, hero! Glory to you and thank you! You have indebted our homeland! Our native land soaked in blood, as well as our descendants are grateful to you! Memory eternal!"

(Telegraf.rs)