The Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Serbia, Aleksandar Vulin, responded to the statement by Bosnia and Herzegovina’s(BiH) Minister of Defense, Zukan Helez, who said he had not granted approval for a Serbian military aircraft and helicopter to fly over BiH territory on January 8th and 9th.
In his reaction, Vulin not only criticized Helez but also insulted BiH’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Elmedin Konakovic, who had also denied him permission to fly over BiH by helicopter at the end of August last year.
“When I thought no one could be as foolish as Elmedin Konakovic, who banned me from flying to BiH but couldn’t stop me from driving into BiH, Zukan Helez emerged to ban the Serbian government from sending military aircraft to the celebration of Republika Srpska (RS) Day,” Vulin stated in a written declaration.
He also mentioned that many of the planes from Serbia had been involved in saving lives and extinguishing fires in the Federation of BiH (FBiH) last summer.
“Zukan alone is not enough to stop Serbs from celebrating the holiday of all Serbs, RS Day, as decided at the All-Serb Assembly. So why do you ban us when you can’t actually prevent us? Stupidity in the BiH government is contagious, from Elmedin to Zukan,” said Vulin.
It is important to note that January 9th is marked as RS Day in the smaller BiH entity, a holiday that the Constitutional Court of BiH has declared unconstitutional.
Helez emphasized that granting permission for the flight of an aircraft or helicopter for the purpose of marking the unconstitutional RS Day would make him complicit in obstructing the enforcement and implementation of the Constitutional Court’s decision, thereby violating Article 239 of the Criminal Code of BiH.
