DODIK’S LECTURE TO YOUTH – BUILDING RELATIONS FOR THE FUTURE

BANJA LUKA, MАY 10 /SRNA/ – Political analyst Miloš Šolaja told SRNA today that Republika Srpska President Milorad Dodik’s address to Russian youth in Moscow demonstrates that relations between Srpska and the Russian Federation are not only expanding but also being built with an eye to the future.

Šolaja explained that the politically engaged young audience Dodik addressed will, in time, help shape Russia’s domestic and, consequently, its foreign policy. He pointed out that Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly invited Dodik to major global events—most recently last year’s BRICS summit in Kazan, and now the landmark 80th anniversary of the victory over fascism—signaling Russia’s support for Srpska within the framework of its Dayton-mandated competencies. Šolaja also recalled that, alongside Dodik, Putin invited Srpska’s National Assembly Speaker Nenad Stevandić and Serb member and Chair of the BiH Presidency Željka Cvijanović to the Victory Day celebrations, thereby underscoring respect both for the Dayton Agreement and for BiH’s international-legal subjectivity. “It’s important to note that BiH appears here as an internationally recognized state, even as Republika Srpska acts as an internationally recognized constitutional-legal entity—so all these capacities come into play in Russia’s communications and political relations,” Šolaja observed. President Dodik delivered his lecture to Russian youth in Moscow on May 8.