SERB PEOPLE MUST NOT BE DRAWN INTO ANY CONFLICT

DOBOJ, JUNE 7 /SRNA/ – There is no agreement in BiH, the situation is dysfunctional, but the Serb people must not be drawn into any kind of conflict, peace must be preserved, President Milorad Dodik said.

"Sometimes I have to take a step back, sometimes I have to swallow, go without sleep, but we must preserve peace. I must not allow this people to enter into any conflict on any grounds. That is why the decline of BiH will take longer," Dodik said.

He assessed that BiH would eventually collapse once everyone grows tired of it, and that the only structure capable of functioning on its own would be Republika Srpska.

"If we were to separate today and become an independent state, we could function that way. BiH, as well as the FBiH, could not. The cantons are at odds with one another," Dodik said at the panel discussion "Srpska’s Geostrategic Direction," broadcast by RTRS.

He stressed that Srpska has an opportunity to act while the new U.S. administration is in office, whereas Sarajevo is simply waiting for that period to pass, expecting the return of officials who would put pressure on the Serbs, impose sanctions and bring them before courts.

Dodik said that any meaningful and equal dialogue requires certain preconditions, including reasonable interlocutors and the absence of propaganda tricks.

"Those in Sarajevo have convinced themselves that BiH belongs to them, they only need a Serb who would say tomorrow that what Ratko Mladić and Radovan Karadžić did was wrong and that they were war criminals. When someone says otherwise, they resort to lawsuits and prison sentences," Dodik said.

He added that the situation has reached the point of absurdity, arguing that offical Sarajevo seeks a BiH in which Serbs are humiliated and marginalized.