DODIK: COOPERATION WITH RUSSIA OUR NATIONAL PRIORITY

BANJA LUKA, MAY 11 /SRNA/ - SNSD Leader Milorad Dodik says that cooperation with Russia remains a national priority of Republika Srpska and emphasized that his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin was one of the best and most important.

"The visit to Russia was substantively very meaningful. We received significant attention and discussed details of cooperation, which I believe will become even more intensive," Dodik said at a joint press conference with Republika Srpska President Siniša Karan and National Assembly Speaker Nenad Stevandić after returning from Russia. Dodik stressed that at the meeting with Putin, which he described as one of the best and most important so far, the Republika Srpska delegation presented continuity in its relations with Russia. "We emphasized that in Srpska, despite pressures, there are like-minded people who guarantee that Republika Srpska will maintain its policy toward Russia," he said. He underlined that the strategic partnership between Republika Srpska and the Russian Federation continues, adding that cooperation with Russia is based on support and mutual respect, not imposition. Dodik also expressed satisfaction and pride that he was part of the Republika Srpska delegation in Moscow for Victory Day, which he described as an important date for both Russians and Serbs, especially nowadays in time of attempted history revision. "Neoliberals and neo-fascists are now saying that Hitler and Stalin are the same and that this is the history we should accept, which is not true. Russia’s death toll was 28,000,000 in the Second World War, and Hitler’s goal was to kill Russians and Serbs," Dodik said.