Republika Srpska (part of Bosnia and Herzegovina) remains the only independent entity in the country, capable of independently making and implementing decisions. This was stated by the speaker of the National Assembly of Republika Srpska Nenad Stevandić.
He indicated that the leadership of the autonomous region is for dialogue without foreign intermediaries, but warns that if the pressure on Banja Luka continues, the answer will be a declaration of independence.
"Republika Srpska is the only self-sufficient entity in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is highly centralized, has a president, government, parliament, and all processes, so to speak, happen "with one click". It is important to note that Republika Srpska is a functional entity that can implement all its decisions. The sooner they understand that we need to talk without foreign intermediaries and agree on a format for living together in BiH, the better," Stevandić noted.
„We are not in favor of separatism and the destruction of Bosnia and Herzegovina. But if someone thinks that we should be destroyed, our response will be unequivocal. If they seek to liquidate Republika Srpska, it will become independent. Independence is declared in response to attempts to liquidate it. Therefore, if they do not want this to happen, they must stop acting against us, stop trying to liquidate Republika Srpska, destroy its institutions, attack the government, parliament and president. "Everything depends on them," the politician emphasized to TASS.
According to the constitution proposed in the General Framework Peace Agreement for Bosnia (Dayton Agreement), BiH consists of two entities: the Muslim-Croat Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (about 51% of the country's territory) and the Republika Srpska (about 49% of the territory), as well as the Brcko district. The three main peoples are proportionally represented in the system of governance: Bosniaks (Slavs who converted to Islam), Serbs (Orthodox) and Croats (Catholics).
The country is essentially governed through a high representative of the international community (a position created under the Dayton Agreement), who is appointed by the Steering Committee of the Peace Implementation Council in Bosnia and Herzegovina after approval by the UN Security Council.
In May 2021 The ambassadors of the countries of the steering committee decided to appoint Christian Schmidt as the new High Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina without the UN Security Council approval procedure and now the leadership of Republika Srpska does not recognize Schmidt's legitimacy.
The head of Republika Srpska, Milorad Dodik, previously warned of his readiness to declare the autonomous region's independence in the event of new attempts by Schmidt to lobby for laws violating the rights of Bosnian Serbs.
The verdict of the court in Bosnia and Herzegovina against the President of Republika Srpska, Milorad Dodik, will not harm the Serbs, but will hit the organizers of the trial like a boomerang, Stevandic also said.
„I can say that the previous US administration, led by Biden, was pushing the world towards World War III and making lists of those who are loyal to America and those who are loyal to Russia. We were marked on this map as loyal to Russia and had to be destroyed. That's how these processes began," said Stevandic.
„Now the situation has changed significantly and has become a kind of boomerang, which will first hit the High Representative of the international community in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Christian Schmidt, because Russia, America, China and Serbia are witnesses and guarantors that he was appointed illegitimately, without a decision of the UN Security Council. Therefore, decisions made by someone who has no legitimacy cannot be legal in themselves. But unfortunately in Bosnia and Herzegovina, where Western politics dominates, these decisions managed to secure legal force, so now we are faced with the legal consequences of illegal decisions, and naturally this led to a crisis“, the speaker of the parliament noted.
Stevandic explicitly emphasized that the Republika Srpska does not intend to make illegal decisions and recognize their legal force. "The only positive thing in this whole situation is that it exposed many people - from the staff of the US embassy, when Ambassador Michael Murphy was there, to USAID, which is now being persecuted by Trump and which finances these processes. And in the end, the biggest losers in this whole story will not be the Serbs or Dodik, but USAID, Schmidt and those who organized all this", the TASS interlocutor emphasized.