The President of Republika Srpska, Milorad Dodik, has been announcing the entity's withdrawal from the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina for years, and he emphasized this recently at a special session of the RS National Assembly and at the session of the SNSD Main Board, when he said that "it could happen that the Army of Republika Srpska is organized." The Prosecutor's Office of BiH has asked the SNSD leadership to provide them with the conclusions from the Main Board session, since this political party is sending anti-constitutional messages. And no matter how much he ardently wants an entity army, it is proving to be an impossible mission.
Let me remind you that the abolition of the former Army of the RS and the formation of a single state army of BiH were not imposed by any high representative, but rather the decision was made by the National Assembly of the RS in 2004 and authorized the then Prime Minister Pero Bukejlović to sign the Agreement on the Transfer of Defense Competences from the Republika Srpska to Bosnia and Herzegovina, whose Parliamentary Assembly (with representatives from the RS) adopted the Law on Defense and formed a single state armed forces. And it is not easy to annul it, just as one cannot get out of a law like, for example, a movie theater, when someone does not like watching the movie further - and no one cares!
There is no room for one-sidedness here, because both entities have decided to have a joint army, so it is logical that both should also state whether the Armed Forces can be abandoned, and the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina would not agree to that, I am sure. Admittedly, the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina contains a provision on entity armies, but a lot of time has passed since 1995, when the Dayton Agreement was adopted, of which the Constitution is a part, and now it would be absolutely pointless and dangerous for there to be two armies in Bosnia and Herzegovina, but those in the Republika Srpska, blinded by their alleged statehood, do not want to or cannot understand that.
Indeed, the Army of Republika Srpska was never indigenous, but one of the armies that emerged from the JNA, which although formally established by a decree of 12 May 1992, signed by the then President of the RS, Radovan Karadžić, was de facto subordinate to Belgrade. The then leadership of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia made a political decision on this, and the General Staff in Belgrade issued the necessary orders that determined the JNA units that would make up the VRS, and the formation of commands that would manage these units. The formations that made up the VRS did not change their organizational structure, commanders, or uniforms.
This means that the withdrawal of the JNA from BiH was only declarative, it was only transformed into the VRS, which took over the entire property of the former army in the RS. The RS army was under the jurisdiction of the 40th Personnel Center of the VJ General Staff, within which it was provided with logistical support throughout the war in the form of weapons, ammunition, military equipment, fuel and food, and salaries were paid to senior personnel and their promotions to higher ranks were carried out. This connection between the RS entity army and Belgrade did not cease even after the end of the war and lasted until the abolition of the VRS, and one of its post-war chiefs, General Novak Đukić, even after the final verdict for war crimes at the Tuzla Kapija, still has the protection of Serbia, which refuses to extradite him to BiH. Dodik is probably counting on Serbia's help in the eventual formation of his army, but it is unlikely that the authorities of the neighboring country would embark on such a dangerous adventure for it.
Who abolished the Army of Republika Srpska, how and why, has been a topic of conflict between Dodik and Čavić for years, but it died down when Čavić's party entered a coalition with the SNSD. Čavić has since retired from politics, and those who are now shedding crocodile tears over the dissolution of the VRS do not want to accept the facts, one of which is that in 2004 there was a months-long debate on the reform of the future Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which was later declared the best reform in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina are part of the state sovereignty of Bosnia and Herzegovina, they spend optimally, they are not an unnecessary burden or parasite, but participate in collective security operations, provide support for peace and self-defense, including the fight against terrorism, and assist civil authorities in eliminating the consequences of natural and other disasters. Of the approximately 9.000 of our military professionals, who are in every part of the country, more than 2.500 are from the Serbian people. Last fall, 349 new soldiers were admitted to professional military service in the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and this is the largest admission since the existence of the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which testifies to the increased interest in serving in our army. Therefore, Dodik's claims about the alleged alarming situation in the Armed Forces, which he would abolish and demilitarize the entire Bosnia and Herzegovina, are unfounded and absurd.
Finally, the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Republika Srpska have 20 promising facilities, including eight barracks, several weapons depots, and several communication hubs on the route from Prijedor to Trebinje. Military facilities in the RS, as well as those in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, are state property of Bosnia and Herzegovina and cannot be alienated by the entities. Milorad Dodik is deeply mistaken if he really thinks that the issue with the army can be resolved in his rhetorical way.
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