The Bosniak and Bosnian Croat Presidency members had an agreement with the Montenegrin President who was supposed to come to Sarajevo and speak about ‘malicious Russian and Serbian influence’ but this was prevented, Bosnian Serb Presidency member Milorad Dodik said on Monday.

Montenegrin President Milo Djukanovic was supposed to visit Bosnia on March 2 but that never happened. Bosnia’s three Presidency members discussed it, and although two of them agreed to the visit, Dodik stopped it by declaring that it is a matter of Serb vital national interest.

The Bosnian Serb leader also received support from MPs in the parliament of Bosnia’s Serb-majority Republika Srpska (RS) region.

Djukanovic wanted to come and talk about how normal the situation is in Montenegro, when in fact it is “dramatic,” Dodik told Pink TV.

He was referring to the mass protests of Montenegrin Serbs over a religious freedom law the country adopted recently.

It would not make sense for Djukanovic to visit at a time when “the Serb people, Serb Orthodox believers and the Serbian Orthodox Church are fighting for their rights,” he said.

He also spoke of his colleagues in the Presidency.

“Of course (Zeljko) Komsic and (Sefik) Dzaferovic didn’t agree and I had to use the mechanism of vital national interest and raise the issue in the National Assembly of Republika Srpska where the final decision is made,” Dodik said.

Djukanovic told the media recently that Dodik’s recent actions regarding the political crisis in Bosnia could turn into an attempt to secede the RS from Bosnia.

Dodik said that Djukanovic is only trying to attract attention with such statements.

“That is an attempt to come to Sarajevo and speak of this ‘expansion’ from outside and of ‘malicious Russian or Serbian influences’ and other things they are making up,” he said.