THE REPUBLIKA SRPSKA ARMY WAS SEIZED, IT IS IMPORTANT TO PRESERVE THE SERB COMPONENT IN THE ARMED FORCES

TREBINJE, JUNE 28 /SRNA/ - Republika Srpska President Milorad Dodik stated that the Republika Srpska Army, a symbol of Srpska’s statehood, was seized under pressure from the international community, and that today it is extremely important for the Serb component to remain within the Armed Forces of BiH.

"Thanks to honorable people in the Third Infantry /Republika Srpska/ Regiment, we still have our representatives. It is not easy for them; working within that structure is very difficult. We see that the Bosniaks want to establish ties with NATO structures in the way they desire," said Dodik. He emphasized that this is why the Serb component needs to remain within the Armed Forces of BiH, and that the individuals who represent the Serbs there deserve honor and gratitude. He reminded that, according to the Constitution of BiH and the Dayton Peace Agreement, the existence of the Republika Srpska Army was foreseen, and that it carried out its duties and responsibilities without interference for several years after Dayton. "Unfortunately, we have lost the Republika Srpska Army in an organizational sense, and that is a serious loss in this time when the world is massively and hysterically arming itself," Dodik told reporters in Trebinje, where he attended the commemoration of Vidovdan, the patron saint’s day of the Republika Srpska Army and the Third Infantry Regiment. He added that the Serbs allegedly agreed to this under pressure from the international community, emphasizing that no one would have ever agreed to it otherwise, but that it was a moment when the entire global crowd pressured Republika Srpska to relinquish what was a symbol of its statehood. “We must regard it as something that was seized,” Dodik stated. He pointed out that Republika Srpska is committed to peace, but that it is entirely normal for it to design all security projects jointly with Serbia, emphasizing that he does not wish to be part of the NATO alliance, which first bombed Republika Srpska with depleted uranium, and later Serbia as well. “For those reasons, we cannot join that military organization; it would be cynical, humiliating; it would be like killing once again those who have already been killed by NATO,” Dodik said. According to him, Republika Srpska will share its future with Serbia.