A cargo plane carrying medical equipment and a team of medical experts from Russia landed on Thursday at the Banja Luka airport as part of Moscow’s effort to help Bosnia's Serb-majority entity fight the coronavirus.

The Russian team will work with the University Clinic in Banja Luka.

Russian Ambassador to Bosnia, Petr Ivantsov, told reporters that this is just the first group of experts who have arrived following a request for help sent by the government of the Serb-majority entity.

Such help was not sent to the other semi-autonomous entity in the country, the Federation (FBiH), because it never requested assistance from Russia, he said.

“Special equipment for disinfecting spaces and buildings is coming as well as everything else necessary for fighting the coronavirus,” Ivantsov said.

RS President, Zeljka Cvijanovic, said that Russia sent help shortly after the entity requested it.

“They responded to all those who asked for help,” she said.

The Serb member of the tripartite Presidency and leader of the ruling party in the RS, Milorad Dodik, suggested that “the Federation should also ask Russia’s authorities for help.”