Serbia’s Defence Minister, Aleksandar Vulin, argued on Thursday that the Bosniak and Croat members of Bosnia’s tripartite Presidency have shown that they wish to see Serbia “dismembered” when they voted in favour of granting Kosovo recognition and he asked the Serbian President for how much longer he is prepared to support the integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The press statement published by Serbia’s Defence Ministry came following the session of Bosnia’s tripartite presidency in which Bosnian Croat, Zeljko Komsic, and Bosniak, Sefik Dzaferovic, voted in favour of the country recognising Kosovo as an independent state.
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The Bosnian Serb member, Milorad Dodik, voted against the proposal, arguing that the country’s Serb-majority Republika Srpska (RS) entity does not see Kosovo as independent and that such a move would breach the integrity of neighbouring Serbia.
Dodik, who has frequently advocated for the RS to secede from Bosnia, repeatedly argued that if Kosovo is granted independence, the RS should also be able to secede. Vulin argued the same point on Thursday.“If Kosovo is independent for Bosnia and Herzegovina, then I am in favour of the independence of Republika Srpska,” his statement said.
He argued that the Dzaferovic and Komsic showed his little they care about what Serbs in Bosnia think and feel and that they want to see Serbia dismembered, it said. In the statement, Vulin asks President Aleksandar Vucic how long he will keep using his authority to “maintain an integral Bosnia and Herzegovina which does not want an integral Serbia.”
“President, if they do not respect the integrity of Serbia and do not want Republika Srpska, how much longer will we have to protect the integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina? President, you have forgiven them for trying to kill you in Srebrenica, do not forgive them for trying to kill Serbia,” he said, referring to an attack Vucic experienced in 2015 when he visited the eastern Bosnian city on the anniversary of the 1995 genocide which was committed there by Bosnian Serb forces.
