OHR REPORT PASSES OFF EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT'S VIEWS AS ITS OWN

BANJA LUKA, OCTOBER 28 /SRNA/ - The OHR's report to the Security Council is underhanded, it slips in the European Parliament's positions on BiH, and it is proof of why the office should be abolished, President Milorad Dodik said.

Dodik said the report is selective and accusatory, and sticks to an "impossibly stupid approach based solely on the idea that some Russian influence is to blame for everything".

Dodik stressed that there is no such influence, but that Republika Srpska is committed to cooperation with Russia.

"That is our decision, and it will remain permanent. Stupid bureaucrats from Europe think they can explain everything through fear of Russia, which is absolutely irrational," Dodik told reporters in Banja Luka.

Dodik said the OHR, which has done a great deal of harm in BiH, has now scored an own goal, because the report is irritating to Russia, to America and to all other countries that want to look at relations in BiH objectively.

He reminded that Srpska's leadership has never hidden that it does not want to impose sanctions on Russia, with which it wants to have good relations, and those relations are visible.

"The fact that someone in Brussels decided otherwise and demanded that their policies be followed is another matter. We have said clearly that we will not," Dodik said.

Dodik said that, for the sake of objectivity, the report should have stated at the outset that America has made clear it does not want to build other countries, such as BiH.

"That brings serious changes in the approach on the domestic front. On the other hand, the report leaves out what is an objective problem in BiH, and that concerns BiH's foreign policy activities. Hasn’t that area completely collapsed?" Dodik asked.

He added that Elmedin Konaković and Denis Bećirović act on their own, without the Presidency's joint positions, travel the world lying and scheming, and present only Muslim positions.

"They slander Serbs wherever they go," Dodik said.

Dodik said the report contains not a single word about how an unauthorized individual imposed a decision on how court proceedings should be conducted, and that in his view the report humiliates not only BiH but also the Security Council.

"I hope the people in the Security Council will see that very clearly," Dodik concluded.