Serbian Defence Minister Aleksandar Vulin attended Friday’s ceremony on Republika Srpska (RS) entity's Army (VRS) Day, the Beta news agency reported.

The RS and its citizens will always be protected as long as Serbia is headed by President Aleksandar Vucic, Vulin said at the ceremony in the Kozara barracks in Banja Luka which began with Bosnia-Herzegovina Armed Forces Third Infantry (RS) Regiment commander Milan Radojcic reporting to BiH Presidency member Mladen Ivanic.  

Vulin said the VRS fulfilled its historic mission because it saved the Serb people in Bosnia and the region.

“Today, the people of the RS and its leaders are tasked with the survival of the Serb people. The highest purpose of the peace that is important and necessary for us all is the survival of the Serbs in the RS and Bosnia,” the Serbian minister said.

“Bosnia and its Armed Force can be stable only if we respect each other – soldiers, officers and politicians. The people of the RS only want respect for the RS and are ready to talk and compromise but every time that the RS or its people are in dange we have to have a response,” Ivanic said.

RS President Milorad Dodik rejected claims of war crimes allegedly committed by the RS military which he said “respected all international conventions on war”.

“If it had not been for the RS military, the suffering of our people would have been much worse and would have recalled our suffering in World War 2,” he said, adding that even though the RS Army does not exist any longer it has deep roots among the Serb people. Dodik said the RS should not have agreed to the disbanding of its army and the forming of the BiH Armed Forces.

The VRS was formed on May 12th, 1992 and was abolished when it was integrated into the the Bosnian Armed Forces as its Third Regiment.

The ceremony was also attended by Bosnia's Defence Minister Marina Pendes.