ŽUPLJANIN: RSA BROUGHT FREEDOM TO SERBIAN PEOPLE

BANJA LUKA, MAY 9 /SRNA/ - The Republika Srpska Army /RSA/ brought freedom to the Serbian people; without it, there would be neither Republika Srpska nor the Serbian people in BiH, Slobodan Župljanin, the president of the Organization of RSA Senior Officers, told SRNA.

He said that the RSA had a key role in defending ancestral Serbian homes and saving the Serbian people from new pogroms, the Muslim-Croat coalition announced by tying their flags into a knot, which should have been a noose for Serbian necks. “The glorious RSA achieved numerous victories against a far more powerful enemy and ultimately broke the teeth of the criminal NATO pact, which did not dare to set foot on the territory of Republika Srpska,” Župljanin said ahead of the upcoming commemoration of the Day of the RSA on May 12. Župljanin emphasized that the RSA played a key role in saving the Serbian people from a new pogrom, that it sacrificed its best sons, and that this sacrifice must never be forgotten. “We must preserve the fallen fighters who fought for the creation of Republika Srpska from oblivion, so that new generations may preserve Republika Srpska with the same passion with which the RSA fighters defended it,” Župljanin stressed. He reminded that the Serbian people, learning from earlier negative experiences, united this time, set aside internal disagreements and divisions, and thus created the RSA in unity. "The RSA is the greatest thing the Serbian people have created, and it must be preserved like the pupil of the eye. Without it, there would be neither Republika Srpska nor the Serbian people in BiH. That's why every marking of the Day of the RSA should be dignified and magnificent, until the RSA is returned to its Republika Srpska,” Župljanin emphasized. According to him, the resilience of the RSA led to the Dayton Peace Agreement, which ended the bloody civil war in BiH. "That's why the RSA should never be renounced; its tradition and heroism are now inherited by the 3rd Infantry /Republika Srpska/ Regiment," Župljanin concluded. The Republika Srpska Army was formed on May 12, 1992, and at the end of the Defensive-Patriotic War, it had 210,000 soldiers. According to data from the Republic Center for Research of War, War Crimes and the Search for Missing Persons, 23,659 soldiers were killed. After 14 years of existence, the Republika Srpska Army was integrated into the Armed Forces of BiH, where its military heritage and identity are preserved by the 3rd Infantry /Republika Srpska/ Regiment. On Tuesday, May 12, a memorial service will be held in the Kozara Barracks in Banja Luka for fallen soldiers and civilian victims of the Defensive-Patriotic War, marking the Day of the 3rd Infantry /Republika Srpska/ Regiment and the Day of the Republika Srpska Army.