GAGIĆ: PRESERVE REPUBLIKA SRPSKA THROUGH UNITY OF SERBIAN PEOPLE

BANJA LUKA, JUNE 25 /SRNA/ - President of the Presidency of the Veterans' Organization of Republika Srpska /BORS/, Milovan Gagić, said that unity among the Serbian people in Republika Srpska is important to preserve Republika Srpska and the freedom of the Serbian people in these areas.

"Vidovdan is the patron saint's day of the Republika Srpska Army /RSA/ and a symbol of many sufferings and significant events in Serbian history," Gagić told SRNA, on the occasion of the upcoming commemoration of Vidovdan, the patron saint's day of the RSA and the Third Infantry /Republika Srpska Regiment/ of the Armed Forces of BiH. Gagić stressed that the RSA played a historical role in the defence of the Serbian people and Republika Srpska, adding that the Serbian people would not exist today on the left side of the Drina River if it had not been for this armed force. "We must pass on to younger generations the memory of the fallen fighters who gave their lives for Republika Srpska in the past Defensive-Patriotic War," Gagić said. The central commemoration of Vidovdan, the patron saint's day of the RSA and the Third Infantry /Republika Srpska/ Regiment of the Armed Forces of BiH, will be held on Sunday, June 28, at the Miloševac Monastery near Prijedor. The RSA was formed on May 12, 1992, and by the end of the Defensive-Patriotic War, it had 210,000 fighters. According to data from the Republika Srpska Center for Research of War, War Crimes and the Search for Missing Persons, nearly 24,000 fighters were killed. After 14 years of existence, the RSA became part of the Armed Forces of BiH, where its military heritage and identity are preserved by the Third Infantry /Republika Srpska/ Regiment.