Lavrov and Dodik: Risk in the Dayton Change, against Nato Accession and for the Departure of OHR

A meeting between the leadership of Republika Srpska entity and the Chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Milorad Dodik, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia, Sergey Lavrov, was held at the seat of the Government of the Republika Srpska in East Sarajevo.

Milorad Dodik said that RS has a great honor to host a guest like Sergey Lavrov. He said that no date had been chosen for his arrival, but that he was glad that he needed to come to the anniversary of the signing of the Dayton Peace Agreement, Vijesti.ba writes.

“For us, Russia’s support is very important and has led us to understand and know that there are those in the world who stick to the agreement, not change it. That was one of the important topics of today’s agreement, the Dayton Agreement was not made to be changed without the consent of the two entities and the three sovereign peoples in BiH.

“For years, we have expressed opposition to the interventionism of the High Representative, so today we are asking for the OHR Office to be abolished, and not to be extended,” Dodik said.

He assessed the Bonn powers as a fraud and a hoax, and that all laws imposed by the OHR must be annulled. Dodik said that it was pointed out with Lavrov that there are no disagreements between the RS and Russian entities, and that cooperation will continue. He adds that there were talks about gasification, cultural cooperation, and that cooperation will continue after the end of the coronavirus pandemic.

“We also talked about NATO. RS does not accept BiH’s integration into NATO, and we do not accept the Commission for BiH’s integration into NATO. RS does not see the benefits of NATO integration. The issue of our relationship is related to the positioning of Serbia and its military neutrality, which we opted for in the parliamentary document. I want to tell Lavrov that our cooperation with Serbia is very good and that it is taking place with the planned special ties according to the Dayton Agreement. We will not support sanctions against Russia, “Dodik said.

He pointed out that Russia was not asked for support for the secession of RS.

“The other half of BiH is asking for the abolition of RS. We, Mr. Lavrov, will not stay in such BiH. That is our position, “Dodik said.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said he was glad to be in East Sarajevo.

“RS is our partner, we have good relations and our goal is cooperation with BiH and its peoples,” Lavrov said. Lavrov said that Russia, as one of the guarantors of the Dayton Agreement, strongly respects all principles and its content, and that he calls on other international factors to do the same.

“The basic principles require that all problems be resolved by consensus within BiH without external interference. We believe that it is time to abolish the OHR, because BiH has long since matured to be a country without protectorates, “he said.

He said that he participated in the drafting of the Dayton Agreement, and that he knew how much effort was needed to achieve it. Lavrov also stressed that the Dayton Accords are not an obstacle to the country’s progress on the European path.

“We are glad that RS has made a decision on military neutrality, because we do not need any confrontation caused by NATO’s actions. We also talked a lot about the economy, because companies like Sberbank, Gazprom and others work here with a lot of success, which guarantees us the development of new prosperous projects “, said the head of Russian diplomacy.