Serbia did not have to write in their Defence Strategy that they would protect the RS as their vital national interest, because only we decide on our fate, Bosnian-Serb leader and Presidency member Milorad Dodik said Friday at the unconstitutional Day of Republika Srpska (RS) entity reception in Banja Luka.
“Not only was Sarajevo bothered by it, but I too was bothered by the fact that they wrote in the strategy they would support the RS which remains within Bosnia and Herzegovina. I don't think they had to write that. I'll ask that they remove that if they can – not so we would cause a strife, but to show that we are the ones controlling our fate,” Dodik said at a reception attended by the RS President Zeljka Cvijanovic from Dodik's Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD), Radovan Viskovic (SNSD), the RS Prime Minister, and other dignitaries.
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Of all the previous years, Dodik said he believes this was the year when they least wondered what would happen to the RS and that everyone is now convinced that this Serb-majority part of Bosnia is an “unavoidable political factor.”
According to him, the RS authorities plan to intensify the implementation of strategic projects, one of which is the Doboj-Bijeljina highway construction and the construction of several hydropower plants. This year, he said, the RS provided €1.5 billion for these projects, while they plan to provide additional €4 billion in 2020.
Serbia’s Defence Minister, Aleksandar Vulin, presented on Tuesday the document which says that the preservation of Republika Srpska (RS), one of Bosnia’s two semi-autonomous entities, is among Serbia's top foreign affairs priorities.
