President of Republika Srpska Milorad Dodik stated that his “sin”—and that of other Republika Srpska officials—is simply proving that Republika Srpska is capable of functioning, and that it remains the only sustainable entity within Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Commenting on recent remarks by European official Kaja Kallas, who referred to him as a destabilizing factor in Bosnia and Herzegovina and suggested he must be dealt with, Dodik responded by saying that Kallas herself is a destabilizing force within the European Union and lacks the authority to lead within the bloc.
“Our supposed sin is that we demonstrate Republika Srpska can function, while the narrative they want to impose is that it cannot. Hypothetically speaking, if Bosnia and Herzegovina ceased to exist tomorrow, the only thing that would remain viable is Republika Srpska—even with the Brčko District that was used to cut us in half,” Dodik told TV Informer, where he appeared alongside Serbia’s Deputy Prime Minister in the caretaker government, Aleksandar Vulin.
Dodik reiterated that Germany’s climate minister Anna Lührmann was expelled from Republika Srpska because of her negative remarks about the entity and its president. Instead of flying out from the Banja Luka airport, she had to return to Sarajevo. After the incident, Dodik recalled, there was no official reaction from the German state—just a few articles in the press.
He also reminded the public that in the past, officials from Sarajevo, foreign embassies in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the OSCE pushed to draft a “shared history” of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in which Mujo Hrnjica—who slaughtered Serbs in Cazin—was to be declared a national hero and taught as such to Serb children.
Dodik mentioned that he previously refused to renew an arrangement which stipulated that police in Republika Srpska could only have one long rifle per ten officers.
He further stated that he is now being targeted because Interpol rejected a request to issue a warrant for him, recognizing the matter as a political process.
Addressing the controversy surrounding a villa in Dedinje, which Sarajevo’s prosecution investigated as an abuse of office, Dodik insisted there is no scandal. He explained that he legally took out a loan, repaid it, and later converted the loan into a mortgage with the same bank, attaching a confirmation from the Government of Republika Srpska where he had been employed as Prime Minister.
“The bank is legally required to retain contracts for five years, and now, after eight years, they are fabricating this story to make it seem like something is being hidden. The file remains in the prosecutor’s office, waiting to be activated—not as a primary case, but simply because they’ve ordered my detention for signing legislation in my capacity as president of Republika Srpska,” Dodik explained.
He added that the prosecution requested information from Serbia about the villa and reminded viewers that he had been summoned to Sarajevo over a period of eight years regarding the construction of the Republika Srpska Government building and RTRS headquarters in Banja Luka.
“The Sarajevo court is systematically shutting down any possibility for a Serb to engage with national issues. Every company from Republika Srpska that tried to compete with Sarajevo-based firms has been destroyed—from Bobar Bank to Integral Inženjering. Any business initiative leads to a criminal complaint. If Dodik were truly such a thief and criminal, why haven’t they convicted me of anything?” said Dodik.
Serbia’s Deputy Prime Minister in the caretaker government, Aleksandar Vulin, said that the case regarding the villa was investigated while he was Serbia’s Minister of Internal Affairs, and confirmed that all documentation was verified. He emphasized that since Dodik is also a Serbian citizen, the matter was thoroughly checked—and nothing illegal was found.
Source: RTRS
