The Serbian government announced on Wednesday that Aleksandar Vulin, the Deputy Prime Minister of Serbia, was not permitted by the authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) to enter the country by helicopter to attend a ceremonial liturgy in Pale near Sarajevo on the occasion of the Feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos according to the Gregorian calendar.
The Serbian government stated that Vulin was supposed to attend the celebration of the Feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos in the municipality of Pale and lay flowers at the Republika Srpska (RS) Square in honor of Serbian fighters who died in the war of the 1990s.
“Although the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister of Serbia, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Serbian Embassy duly and timely provided all necessary information and accompanying documentation, even specifying the purpose of the visit, the authorities in BiH did not give consent for the flight by remaining silent and not responding,” the statement said.
Despite this, the Serbian Deputy Prime Minister arrived at the celebration in Pale, but not by helicopter; he traveled by official car instead.
Aleksandar Vulin was also not allowed to enter BiH at the beginning of August when he was supposed to attend a ceremony in Prebilovci near Capljina dedicated to the suffering of Serbs during World War II.
However, the Deputy Prime Minister of Serbia managed to arrive in Prebilovci the following day, where he compared Croats to Ustase and called Prebilovci a sacred place for the Serbian people.
BiH’s Minister of Foreign and European Affairs, Elmedin Konakovic, prohibited the arrival of the helicopter that was supposed to bring Vulin to the 83rd-anniversary commemoration of the crimes against Serbian civilians, explaining that Vulin is a “proven destabilizing factor.”
Nevertheless, Vulin managed to reach Prebilovci, calling Konakovic’s action “a small mischief that lasted one night.”
Vulin has also been sanctioned by the United States (U.S.), accused of encouraging Russian “malign” activities and having ties with arms and drug traffickers. These sanctions mean that any of Vulin’s assets in the U.S. or held by U.S. citizens in which he has an interest are frozen.
