Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik on Monday glorified convicted war criminals Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic, accusing the USA of waging "a hybrid war" against the Bosnian Serb-majority entity of Republika Srpska (RS) at a ceremony held in Banja Luka.

The ceremony was part of a two-day commemoration of 9 January, which the entity authorities observe as the entity's day in spite of a Bosnia and Herzegovina Constitutional Court ruling of 2015 that declared the observance as unconstitutional because it discriminates against Bosnian Croats and Bosniaks.

Addressing those attending the event, Dodik lamented the fate of the Serb people throughout history since the times of the Ottoman rule, concluding that it was Croats and Bosniaks who forced Serbs to establish Republika Srpska because they wanted to separate them from the “parent country Serbia.”

He maintained that Serbian politicians were in no way responsible for the war and that Western politicians were lying when speaking of Serb crimes.

Dodik again denied genocide in Srebrenica and defended convicted war criminals Karadzic and Mladic as “people who led the RS” and fought for freedom.

He claimed that a hybrid war is being waged against the RS and that behind it are some Western countries, led by the USA.

Dodik said that the ultimate goal is a Serb state in the region, and that with time the current inter-entity boundary line between Republika Srpska and the Federation entity (FBiH) would become a real border, ending his speech with ‘Long live Serbia, Russia and the Orthodox world’.

The Serb entity authorities observe January 9 in memory of 9 January 1992, when a part of Serb deputies in the assembly of the then Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina declared “a republic of the Serb people in Bosnia and Herzegovina” in violation of its constitution and laws.

They made that decision in order to prevent the declaration of BiH's independence and to keep it part of the rump Yugoslavia under the domination of Serbia, led at the time by Slobodan Milosevic.

After the proclamation of the establishment of a self-styled Serb republic in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Serbian Democratic Party (SDS), led by Karadzic, began to take power in the municipalities with a majority Serb population and to carry out preparations for the persecution of Croats and Bosniaks, which followed in April, starting the three-and-a-half-year war in which about 100,000 people were killed.

The authorities in the RS, led by Dodik, refuse to respect the judgement of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina and regularly mark 9 January every year.

This year, only a small number of foreign guests were present on the occasion, such as Serbian Patriarch Porfirije and the outgoing Serbian Parliament Speaker, Vladimir Orlic, as well as Russian Ambassador Igor Kalabukhov. Earlier, the authorities in Banja Luka had announced that Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban could also make an appearance, but he did not come, while Montenegrin President Jakov Milatovic openly refused Dodik's invitation, saying that Podgorica respects Bosnia and Herzegovina as a whole country.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucicjust sent a message saying that Belgrade would continue to support the integrity of BiH and oppose attempts to abolish the RS.

Patriarch Porfirije called for peace with others and those who are different, but on the condition that Serbs remain firmly with their faith and tradition.

During the celebration in Banja Luka, the USA sent its F-16 fighter jets over northern Bosnia for a military exercise with the message that it was a demonstration of “the United States’ commitment to ensuring the territorial integrity of BiH in the face of anti-Dayton and secessionist activity”.

US fighter jets’ flight over Banja Luka called a “provocation”

“The United States has underscored that the BiH Constitution provides no right of secession, and it will act if anyone tries to change this basic element of Dayton,” reads a press release issued by the US embassy in Sarajevo.

The RS authorities will continue the commemoration of 9 January on Tuesday, when they will organise a parade with armed police officers in the evening in Banja Luka.