Grigoriy Shcherbina

Shcherbina on a 2023 stamp of Serbia

Shcherbina monument in North Mitrovica.

Grigoriy Stepanovich Shcherbina^[1] (Russian: Григорий Степанович Щербина, Ukrainian: Григорій Степанович Щербина, 1868–1903) was a Russian diplomat of Ukrainian origin, the Russian Consul seated in Mitrovica, Kosovo Vilayet, Ottoman Empire from late 1902 until his death in April 1903 from shot wounds. The Russian Empire decided to open a consulate in Mitrovica following the Kolašin affair (1901). At the beginning of 1903, Muslim Albanian chieftains met in Yakova after the Ottoman reform plans, and decided to murder leading Serbs in the Sanjak of İpek and compel other Serbs to flee to Serbia or be Turkicized.^[2][3] The plan was to rout Ottoman authorities in Peć, kill the notable Serbs, then move to Mitrovica and confront the Russian consulate. While supervising Ottoman defending troops, on 31 March, Scherbina was shot by an Ottoman Albanian corporal by the name of Halit Ibrahimi Popofci under orders of Isa Bolenti.^[4] Grigoriy Schterbina died ten days later.^[5]

Albanian sources state that the soldier was Halit Ibrahim Popofci, from Zhegër near Gjilan, and that he shot Scherbina due to his Anti-albanian policies.^[6]

Biography

Shcherbina entered the diplomatic service of Imperial Russia when he was only 23 and was one of its most promising civil servants. He spoke Turkish, Arabic, Albanian, Armenian, Bulgarian and Serbian extraordinarily well. After gaining diplomatic experience in Constantinople, Skopje, Cetinje, and Skadar. In 1902, Scherbina was forced by the Russian authorities to enter the service as Russian Consul in Mitrovica and the Albanian nationalists shot him, according to Durham.^[7] A year later, the 35-year-old Consul died of bullet wounds sustained in the assassination attempt by an Albanian soldier.^{[8][9][10][11]}

Each year on 31 March, the anniversary of the death of the Russian consul Gregory Scherbina is commemorated in the north part of Kosovska Mitrovica where his monument situated.^[12][13]

References

1. There are numerous transliterations of his surname from Russian into Serbian, English or French, which was the language of international diplomacy in Europe at the time. They include Scherbin(a), Shtcherbin(a), etc. His given name is also sometimes given as a French variant, Grigorie.
2. Bataković 1992.
3. Legnér, M., Ristic, M., Bravaglieri, S. (2020) "Contested heritage-making as an instrument of ethnic division: Mitrovica, Kosovo", pp. 35–5 in Urban Heritage in Divided Cities: Contested Pasts Sibylle Frank and Mirjana Ristic (ed.). London: Routledge. ISBN 9781138624870
4. "Mitrovica: The divided city in Kosovo threatening stability in the Balkans". Archived from the original on 2020-01-15. Retrieved 2020-12-14.
5. Bataković, Dušan T. (1992). "Anarchy and genocide upon the Serbs". The Kosovo Chronicles.
6. Images, Fm (2 September 2018). "Mitrovica është bër burim i krizave që nga viti 1903, kur Turqia lejojë të hapë Konsullatën e Rusisë". FM Images (in Albanian). No. "The Russian consul, known in Kosovo as the Russian "kanxhallozi" and who had started the action of massacres and mass murders of Albanians, had not had a long life, since before he was one month old, on March 31, 1903, he was killed by an Albanian from Zhegra, Halit Ibrahimi.". Retrieved 21 April 2020.^{[permanent dead link‍]}
7. Durham, M. E. (2019). Through the Land of the Serb. Good Press. Retrieved 21 April 2020.
8. Newbolt, Sir Henry John; Hanbury-Williams, Charles (1904). The Monthly Review. J. Murray. p. 100. Retrieved 21 April 2020.
9. "Examiner (Launceston, Tas. : 1900 – 1954) – 17 Apr 1903 – p5". Trove. 1903.
10. "110th anniversary of a Russian consul's tragic death commemorated in the north of Kosovo".
11. "Одесса прощалась с Александром Ростковским". grad.ua. 27 August 2019.
12. "Russian Consul Gregory Shcherbina Remembered in Kosovo 110 Year after Death". Russkiy Mir. 2 April 2013.
13. "Памятник российскому консулу Григорию Щербине". liveinternet.ru. 19 August 2012.