RECIPROCAL MEASURES TO FOLLOW KONAKOVIĆ’S MOVE

BELGRADE, SEPTEMBER 8 /SRNA/ - Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić announced reciprocal measures following the move by BiH Foreign Minister Elmedin Konaković to withdraw diplomats from the BiH Embassy in Belgrade.

“When you decide to expel someone’s diplomats, you have to consider whether someone else will expel your diplomats,” Vučić stressed. Vučić said that Sarajevo apparently believes that Serbia is naive and that they will expel diplomats appointed by Republika Srpska rather than those appointed by Sarajevo. “We are not going to rush. We do not want to fall into the pattern of hysterical reactions. You saw that I kept silent for two days and did not say a word, wanting to let them vent all their hatred,” Vučić added. Regarding the strong reactions, attacks and threats over the funeral of General Ratko Mladić, Vučić said that there had been a hysterical avalanche of attacks from Sarajevo, Pristina, Zagreb and Podgorica, but that this was nothing particularly surprising. He said that estimates indicated that between 120,000 and 150,000 people had attended the funeral, noting that most of them had come from Belgrade and central Serbia. “Serbia was the main target of the attacks. It was not because Mladić was buried. Many wanted us to have unmarked graves in Serbia, for Mladić to be buried in the same way as Dragoljub Draža Mihailović,” Vučić told RTS. Speaking about the hypocrisy of the West and many in the region, Vučić revealed that in the Netherlands they did not allow General Mladić to be dressed in a military uniform, while in Croatia, in 2008, Dinko Šakić was buried in a Nazi Ustasha uniform at Mirogoj Cemetery in Zagreb. Vučić also reminded that Croatian officials expressed their condolences following the suicide of Slobodan Praljak in The Hague, while the Croatian Parliament adopted a resolution declaring the Hague Tribunal’s verdicts against Croats unjust and unacceptable. He also pointed out that all Sarajevo officials attended the funeral of Rasim Delić, who is a war criminal directly responsible for the beheading of Serbs, as well as the commemorative sessions.