MINIĆ: THE U.S. PRESIDENT'S ADVISER’S ARRIVAL IN BRATUNAC IMPORTANT

TESLIĆ, JULY 5 /SRNA/ – Republika Srpska Prime Minister Savo Minić said it was important that an adviser to the U.S. president attended the memorial service for Serb victims in Bratunac, assessing it as a kind of equal treatment of victims.

"I was pleased that representatives of the Russian Federation and the United States attended yesterday's memorial service in Bratunac for the 3,267 Serbs of the Central Podrinje and Birač region who were killed. That creates a certain sense of equality among victims," Minić told the press in Teslić. He stressed it is possible to debate whether one nation is better than another in certain respects, but that no distinction should be made among victims by having ambassadors from countries around the world attend commemorations for one group of victims while no one attends memorial services for Serb victims. "The presence of the U.S. representative in Bratunac yesterday is an indication of a change in policy and will contribute to representatives of other countries beginning to attend commemorations for Serb victims, allowing it to be heard that our victims are equal to all others. We seek only the truth and nothing but the truth," Minić said. He assessed that the U.S. approach toward BiH is changing, adding that this is a process that cannot happen overnight. Minić said that the lifting of U.S. sanctions and preparations for new projects are developments that generally place Republika Srpska in the position it should occupy. "BiH should therefore not be an obstacle but rather a mechanism for implementing projects. It has become clear that the obstacle exists at the level of BIh," Minić said. According to him, this is also one way of demonstrating that Republika Srpska is building its institutions and poses a threat to no one. "I am deeply convinced that a promising period lies ahead because of our opening toward the world, both toward the Russian Federation and toward the United States," Minić said.