RECEPTION WITH PUTIN WAS ALSO AN OPPORTUNITY FOR TALKS

MOSCOW, MAY 9 /SRNA/ - Republika Srpska President Milorad Dodik stated that the reception with Russian President Vladimir Putin was also an opportunity for discussions, adding that later in the day the Republika Srpska delegation will also hold a bilateral meeting with him.

Dodik emphasized that it was an honor for him to attend the military parade dedicated to Victory Day and the 81st anniversary of victory over fascism organized by President Putin, stressing that today is a national holiday in Moscow, which he said shows that Russia does not want historical revisionism of the kind that, according to him, the West is trying to impose.

Dodik said this is also important for the Serbs, whose percentage of war casualties, he noted, corresponds to the percentage of citizens of the Soviet Union who were killed.

"We are peoples who suffered greatly, and we want to say that we will never allow that revisionism to succeed, nor the attempt to impose the narrative of May 9 solely as Europe Day without connecting it to Victory Day. That is cynicism coming from Europe and has no particular significance for us," Dodik said after the reception with Putin.

He added that he was proud to attend today's grand events in Moscow together with Republika Srpska President Siniša Karan and Republika Srpska National Assembly Speaker Nenad Stevandić.