DODIK: APPRECIATE RUSSIA'S EFFORTS TO PRESERVE THE DAYTON PEACE AGREEMENT

MOSCOW, SEPTEMBER 9 /SRNA/ - The President of Republika Srpska Milorad Dodik has stated today in Moscow that Russia's efforts to preserve the Dayton Peace Agreement in BiH should be appreciated, but that the problem lies with those who do not want this, such as the Bosniaks, who never fully accepted this agreement, considering it a straitjacket.

"The Bosniaks never accepted the equal participation of the Russian Federation as a guarantor of the Dayton Peace Agreement. They accepted to be collaborators with Western structures from where solutions that only suited them were coming," Dodik said at a press conference after meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

He added that the Serbs had done everything to make this agreement work and have been marking the day of the signing of the Dayton Peace Agreement for more than 20 years as a state holiday.

The president of Republika Srpska reminded that the international intervention by so-called high representatives imposed 280 decisions and laws, which fundamentally changed the constitutional order and introduced new institutions not foreseen by the Constitution or the Dayton Peace Agreement, such as the Court of B.

"They dismissed more than 900 officials elected through democratic procedures, two-thirds of whom were from Republika Srpska. This shows that they never gave up on creating solutions that suited only them and the Muslims in BiH," Dodik said.

He stated that the Dayton Peace Agreement faced serious operational problems.

"Republika Srpska remained committed to the letter of the Dayton Peace Agreement, while the so-called 'spirit' interpreted by the West is a misguided concept," Dodik concluded.

He concluded that they failed to defeat Republika Srpska completely, nor to sideline the Dayton Peace Agreement.