PUTIN ON MEETING WITH DODIK: SERBS IN EUROPE HAVE BEEN FORCIBLY DIVIDED

MOSCOW, OCTOBER 2 /SRNA/ - Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a plenary session of the Valdai International Discussion Club that he had met with President Milorad Dodik and that Serbs in Europe had been placed, by force, in the position of a "divided nation."

"That is unfair," Putin said.

The Russian president referred to his recent meeting with Dodik while speaking about the Dayton Peace Accords and the position of Serbs in BiH, RIA Novosti reported.

"I have just met with Dodik. They themselves once drafted the Dayton Agreement, but now no one wants to implement it, while in other cases certain decisions are being imposed on the Serbs," Putin said.

The Russian president said he did not understand what he described as the West's asymmetrical treatment of the Serb people.

Putin said the Russian side welcomed Serbia's restrained position on a number of key current issues and highly valued Serbia's refusal to accept any decisions concerning sanctions against Russia.

"You know our position on Serbia. Personally, I do not understand why the collective West has treated the Serbian people so unfairly and asymmetrically over the past decades. They divided the Serbian people into several parts, and Serbs found themselves in different state entities," Putin said at the plenary session.