DODIK: I WILL TRY TO PERSUADE PUTIN TO SUPPORT OUR POSITION ON REFERENDUM

BANJA LUKA, AUGUST 31 /SRNA/ - Republika Srpska President Milorad Dodik stated that he would try to convince Russian President Vladimir Putin to support the aspirations for holding a referendum on the independence of Republika Srpska.

“This has been discussed before, but Putin has always supported the Dayton Agreement and the territorial integrity of BiH. That was also the case the last time we spoke, but much has changed since then. I will try to convince him to support our position. I don’t know if I will succeed, but I will certainly raise the issue,” Dodik said. The President of Republika Srpska emphasized that a referendum is a legitimate way for the people to express their opinion on important issues. “That is a civilizational achievement that also belongs to the Serb people,” Dodik said in an interview with the Russian service of the BBC. Responding to a question about what would happen if the federal government and Christian Schmidt did not accept the results of the referendum in Republika Srpska, scheduled for October 25, Dodik said that this would mean they do not care about the stance and the will of the people they are trying to govern here. “This will serve as the basis for us to create new political agendas and processes in which we will fight for the affirmation of the people’s position. We will likely, at some point in the future, ask the people whether they want to live in a BiH where their will is not respected,” Dodik said. The President of Republika Srpska stressed that BiH is a meaningless, impossible, and unfinished country. “After countless international operations, coercion, deceit, and fraud, BiH as it is does not deserve to exist, and that is why it is logical for the Serb people to seek their right to the status of an independent state,” Dodik said. When asked what he wants his legacy to be, Dodik replied that, economically, it is a developed Republika Srpska; spiritually, the preservation of the cultural and religious characteristics of the Serb people; and, politically, that Republika Srpska becomes an independent state.