The newly elected President of Montenegro, Jakov Milatovic, said that his position on the genocide in Srebrenica is very clear and that he condemns all the crimes that took place.

“The International Court was very clear and made a decision regarding Srebrenica… It is very important that the International Court somewhere individualized the genocide in Srebrenica. My position in this sense is very clear, the Montenegrin parliament also passed a resolution when it comes to Srebrenica. It is very important that as a region, together, we pass judgment on the past, which was difficult. The past that had a Srebrenica, but also Jasenovac, the past that also had things in Montenegro like the great crime in Piva, Velica… These are all things that I clearly condemn,” Milatović told Al Jazeera Balkans.

Milatovic defeated the then incumbent President and candidate Milo Djukanovic in the recent elections. For some, it was characterized as a step away from Europe, and a step closer to the “Serbian world,” while for others the end of one of the last dictators of Europe – Djukanovic.

Dodik condemns Milatovic

The President of Bosnia’s Serb-dominated Republika Srpska (RS) entity assessed that “Milatovic is judging Srebrenica in the same way as his predecessor.”

“Referring to the judgments of the International Court, and not mentioning the great suffering of Serbs in and around Srebrenica… shows that Milatovic chose to flatter Sarajevo without hesitating to insult the Serbs and Republika Srpska. It's a shame, I thought that the anti-Serb policy in Montenegro was defeated,” Dodik said.

He assessed that the Montenegrin President would never have been elected without the votes of Serbs, and that fact obliged him to show minimum consideration for that electorate.

“I still think that Milatovic is a less bad choice than Djukanovic, but he is also a less difficult opponent to replace than Djukanovic. The next time they vote in Montenegro, Serbs should know whom and what policies they are voting for. It’s clear that this time they voted against Djukanovic and not for Milatovic,” the RS President concluded.