BANJALUKA – Russia has proved a very important factor for adherence to international law, unlike some other countries that have damaged the Dayton Peace Agreement and changed it using violence over the past years, Srpska President Milorad Dodik said.
Following a meeting with a delegation of the Russian Federation led by State Duma member Pavel Sargeevich Dorokhin on Friday, Dodik thanked Russia on behalf of Republika Srpska for its support and understanding in the implementation of the Dayton Agreement, saying that Russia’s support in that respect does not jeopardise anyone in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
“Republika Srpska remains in good terms with Russia. We thought that BiH should not impose sanctions on Russia and join the Western countries and we are pleased that Srpska played a decisive role in preventing such a move,” Dodik told reporters in Banjaluka.
Srpska thus demonstrated the ability to pursue policies in accordance with its interests – having good relations with everyone.
With respect to the economic and business cooperation, Dodik said this was a chance to thank Russia for all its support in the field of economy, stressing the Russian companies that invest in Srpska and help its economy and growth become sustainable.
“We have agreed that the cooperation should be maintained and that it cannot be stopped despite the business challenges which are much more different than what we had when the Russian partner came here to buy the refinery,” said Dodik.
The officials also discussed ways of helping the Srpska economy to become more visible in the Russian market and the specific forms of assistance and models of encouraging the production and marketing of products.
Dodik thanked the Committee in Support of General Ratko Mladic, which operates within the Russian Duma, and encouraged it to keep working on support projects and assistance.
“We touched upon the topics related to the present international context, primarily terrorism. Russia is one of the most important members of the anti-terrorist coalition, while Republika Srpska in terms of the potential it offers is part of that coalition and we are prepared to take part in the operations and everything that is necessary to eliminate terrorist groups, in accordance with our capabilities,” emphasised Dodik.
“The fighting against terrorist groups in the Middle East grew more intense when Russia entered the scene, which brought back optimism to almost all the people wishing the global problem to end.
“I believe that Russia will play a significant role in the anti-terrorist coalition until such threats to the global stability and global peace are eradicated,” said Dodik.
Dorokhin thanked Republika Srpska on behalf of the Russian Federation for standing against sanctions on Russia, and for supporting the struggle against terror in Syria.
He said he attended the meeting with Dodik also in the capacity as the chairman of the Committee in Support of General Ratko Mladic and thanked the Srpska president for supporting the Serb patriots in the Hague war crimes tribunal.
“The meeting today was also attended by the Generals’ son, Darko Mladic, who knows very well that I went to see General Mladic in The Hague three times and made sure that he got better living conditions there,” said Dorokhin.
He noted that a group of physicians from Russia went to the tribunal last summer to testify about Mladic’s health which had deteriorated, he said, due to the poor conditions he was living in.
“Mladic addressed us himself asking to be transferred for treatment in Russia. We are gathering the necessary documents and hope that the procedure of transferring Mladic for treatment in Russia will begin early next year,” said the Russian politician.
The officials also spoke about how to maintain Srpska’s functioning within BiH in line with the Dayton Accords, given than many provisions of the agreement are not working today.
“Russia will give generous support to Srpska in all international organisations, including the UN Security Council,” underlined Dorokhin.
As the Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Industry, Dorokhin backed the projects in industrial development, saying that they had also discussed Russia’s financial support to Republika Srpska and the amounts that Russia could use to boost the Srpska economy.
