The President of the RS, Milorad Dodik, traveled to Hvar in a Serbian Army helicopter yesterday to meet with the President of Croatia, Zoran Milanović.
Interestingly, Dodik first flew to Milanović and then to Aleksandar Vučić in Serbia. Dodik flew in this helicopter last year as well, for example when he was staying in Vlasenica. This question belongs to the symptomatic ones, because it inevitably has a deeper political background, which reflects the special ties between Serbia and the RS, that is, between Vučić and Dodik.
In the current circumstances, that move elevates Vučić as the man who manages Dodik, and Dodik looks like a special link in the relationship between Vučić and Milanović.
The Croatian media criticized the meeting between Milanović and Dodik, so the 24sata portal writes that Milanović should have found new friends for the annual vacation.
“Milanović is waging his wars with official Sarajevo, but also with Brussels, the NATO alliance, America regarding the war in Ukraine, with everyone, except the Russians. And there he fits perfectly into the Orban-Dodik political axis. But Milanović is also promoting himself in the national leaders, sovereignists and Tudjmanists, promoters of defenders and protectors of the Storm action. It is therefore not clear how this fact fits into the agreement of Milorad Dodik, Aleksandar Vučić and Patriarch Porfirije that this year’s commemoration for the victims of the Storm will be organized in Prijedor, a city that was once the scene of a crime, ethnic cleansing and the suffering of Croats and Bosniaks. How then does Milanović share his vacation days with such a Dodik?”, they ask.
Dodik arrived on Hvar on Tuesday morning, in complete secrecy, without an official announcement.
In a relaxed manner, Dodik went to spend time with the President of Croatia. He took off from Banja Luka and landed at the heliport on Hvar.
There, far from the eyes of the public, ready vehicles with Zagreb license plates were waiting for him. The security took care of their safety, all not far from the summer residence of the President of Croatia.
On the other hand, Aleksandar Vučić stated yesterday that Dodik arrived at Pasuljanske livade from a visit to Croatia and that he used a “Serbian helicopter”.
It is not known why Dodik uses Serbia’s helicopter when the RS entity has its own.
Dodik’s regional helicopter tour on Tuesday came at a time when he is facing diplomatic isolation, and the Republika Srpska is facing silent financial sanctions from the EU due to moves in that entity to undermine the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina and question the legitimacy of High Representative Christian Schmidt, Klix.ba reports.
