DODIK: POLITICAL SARAJEVO PREVENTS FURTHER DEVELOPMENT OF SRPSKA

ŠEKOVIĆI, APRIL 23 /SRNA/ - The President of Republika Srpska Milorad Dodik said that political Sarajevo has prevented further development of Srpska by preventing the construction of a gas pipeline and that is why he does not see the purpose of staying in a community that functions that way.

Dodik pointed out that Srpska would have looked different today if 12 years ago political Sarajevo had not stopped it from building a gas pipeline.

"Gas could have been a development advantage for Srpska had it built a gas pipeline five or ten years ago and before the current energy situation with a cheap price of $400-500 for 1,000 cubic meters of gas, unlike in Germany where the price is $3,000," Dodik told reporters in Šekovići.

Dodik pointed out that Republika Srpska has not stopped any federal project, and that it will not stop any of their projects unless it threatens Srpska and does not discriminate against it in some respect.

According to him, regardless of the fact that there was talk about the "Southern Interconnection" in BiH, that issue was not resolved and the authorities of BiH did not decide on it.

Dodik pointed out that solving this interconnection is possible only in the package with "Eastern interconnection".

"And this time we will not be generous and leave our problems to be solved by ill-intentioned people from Sarajevo, but we are asking for it to be put in a package, but even without that, the existing capacities of this gas pipeline will be sufficient to be permeable and provide a sufficient amount of gas," the President of Srpska emphasized.

Dodik said that Republika Srpska and FBiH get gas at the cheapest prices from Russia, for which he is grateful to the Russian President Vladimir Putin, and expressed hope that the situation will be the same in the coming years.

"The largest part of the gas that we provide is used by the FBiH and we certainly did not make any division in that and we want to continue with quality supply, but given the experiences we are seeing today, they make us question it," said Dodik.