The President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, held a press conference where he spoke about Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), specifically about the president of the Republika Srpska (RS) entity, Milorad Dodik, whom he once again offered wholehearted support.
Although he did not start his address with this topic – despite considering that he should have and that it was one of the most important – Vucic, as expected, expressed support for Milorad Dodik and his supporters.
“This will pass tomorrow (the protests in Belgrade), and in two or three days, we will have to deal with a much bigger problem. The decision to issue an arrest warrant for the President of RS, Milorad Dodik, the President of the National Assembly of RS (NARS), Nenad Stevandic, and the RS Prime Minister, Radovan Viskovic, is deeply disturbing, anti-democratic, and essentially destabilizing for the entire region. We are now facing an extremely dangerous situation, and it is unbelievable that someone at such a moment does not understand how important stability and unity are for us here in the country. I can call for stability, unity, and togetherness, but others are not interested because someone from outside precisely wants to dismantle RS so that Serbia cannot help it – of course, to then dismantle Serbia afterward, or vice versa, it doesn’t matter which domino falls first – so that the Serbian people no longer have any protection for their vital national interests, and they think that will be the end of it,” Vucic said yesterday.
He then addressed the United Kingdom (UK) ambassador.
“He spoke about our obligations to respect Dayton and the territorial integrity of BiH. He also mentioned sovereignty, but that is something else. We have always respected it, but, dear Ambassador, it was precisely high representatives from the UK, such as Paddy Ashdown, who did not respect the Dayton Peace Agreement but trampled on it brutally, changing it as they pleased, in accordance with UK interests rather than the interests of the people in BiH. Serbia will not deviate from respecting the Dayton Peace Agreement in BiH, but it cannot accept changing the rules just because it suits certain great powers. And because they can do nothing in the war in Ukraine against Russia, they now find a small Serbian people to once again take out their frustrations on. The time for mistreatment is over. In Serbia, you will always have an ally if you seek peace and respect for principles. But if not, we will not engage in conflicts and disputes, yet we will always respond to you clearly and unequivocally. To repeat once again, RS is not responsible for someone trying to seize its property. According to Dayton, property issues are within the jurisdiction of the entities, not the central government, and that is stated unequivocally because only what was explicitly exempted is clear – and property was not exempted. And yet, you overturned that, and on top of it all, you tried to arrest three leaders of an entity. That does not happen in any other country in Europe – it is allowed only against Serbs, and the worst part is that such decisions are being supported. Serbia has been a pillar of stability, but you will not play games with it, and RS, along with its leadership, can count on Serbia’s support,” Vucic stated.
To recall, the Prosecutor’s Office of BiH did not order the arrest but rather the summoning for questioning of Dodik and others, as they are suspected of undermining the constitutional and legal order of BiH by adopting a series of controversial laws in the NARS.
As for the issue of property, it is not directly mentioned in the Dayton Peace Agreement. However, the Constitution of BiH states that all laws from the Republic of BiH remain in force, including the one that stipulates that property belongs to the state – it is the legal titleholder, not the entities.
