Nobody was held responsible for “one of the biggest crimes on the territory of former Yugoslavia”, said Nedeljko Cubrilovic, the Speaker of the National Assembly of the Republika Srpska (RS), Bosnia's Serb dominated entity, commenting the commemoration for Serbs persecuted in the Croatia's military Storm operation which is marked on Saturday.

Cubrilovic said in a written statement that the Serb people must never forget about the “pogrom of the Serbs” and should seek the justice and truth for the “victims of the ethnic cleansing.”

According to the RS official, the international community was not interested back then or now in the “pain and suffering” of the Serbs.

Serbia on Saturday marks Remembrance Day commemorating the persecution of Serbs during the Croatian military and police Operation Storm which the authorities in Belgrade describe as “a premeditated crime.” At the same time, Croatia is marking August 5 as Victory and Homeland Thanksgiving Day and War Veterans’ Day and commemorating the 23rd anniversary of Operation Storm, a military victory in which the country regained control of most of its occupied territory. 

Different perceptions of the Storm operation have been a divisive factor in relations between the two countries since the mid-1990s. While Zagreb sees Storm as a military triumph, which liberated its territory from aggression, Belgrade views it as ethnic cleansing of Serbs.