President of Republika Srpska (RS) Milorad Dodik he told "Vijesta" yesterday that "all the holders of certain positions in Montenegro" were invited to the celebration of January 9 - Day of the Republic of Serbia in Banjaluk, including the presidents of the state and the Assembly Jakov Milatovic i Andrija Mandic, as well as those who received invitations on the same occasion in previous years.
He could not specify who all received the invitation and whether the Montenegrin Prime Minister was among them Milojko Spajic, saying that it is not part of the protocol that sends the calls.
Dodik stated that he does not know who from Montenegro will come to Banjaluka on January 9, but says that he believes that it will be "those who respect the Dayton Agreement and the fact that RS is a legal and legitimate constitutional category in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH)". . He adds that he will talk to Mandić in the next few days, when he wishes him Christmas, and then he will ask him about his arrival.
"We respect our friends who will come, we also respect those who will not come for some reason, but we have no reason to respect those who make negative comments," said Dodik.
"News" did not answer from the Assembly whether Mandić would go to the RS Day celebrations, and from the Government whether Spajić had received an invitation and if so - whether he would be in Banjaluk. As "Vijesti" was told by the Government, the vice presidents did not receive the invitation Aleksa Becic i Momo Koprivica.
Head of State Milatović said in a New Year's interview with "Vijesta" that he will not attend the commemoration on January 9, and that this shows his attitude "towards the integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina, respecting both its entities, the RS and the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina".
Dodik says that they would not have sent an invitation to Milatović if they had known that he would have "such a rude response", and says that he will certainly not send the invitation next year.
"It is completely uncalled for to justify it with a fight for whole Bosnia. If he could see, then he would see that RS from Dayton is an integral part of Bosnia and Herzegovina, that is, it makes up 49 percent of its territory, which is legitimately recognized in the Dayton Peace Agreement. So I don't even know why he needed that observation. But, in any case, he sent a clear message... The one who respects us, we will respect him, and the one who doesn't - we don't have any reasons either", he emphasizes, adding that Milatović's evaluations are not "fair and correct". , and that the Montenegrin president could say that he will not come to Banja Luka without engaging in dialogue.
The President of the RS therefore announces that Milatović could potentially be prevented from visiting BiH.
"You remember that (the former president of Montenegro) Milo Djukanovic asked to come to BiH. The Serbian member of the BiH Presidency did not accept his arrival. It went to the RS parliament, and it was voted that he would not come, so he did not come officially, but he can come privately whenever he wants. Since the current president claims to know something about Bosnia and Herzegovina, it might be good for me to let him know how it goes through this procedure. But we haven't decided on that. I'm just mentioning it as a possibility," Dodik points out.
Đukanović was supposed to visit Bosnia and Herzegovina in March 2020, but Dodik, then a member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, did not agree to the visit like two of his then colleagues from that body (Željko Komšić i Sefik Dzaferovic). He, using the right provided by the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, declared the eventual arrival of Đukanović destructive to the vital interests of the RS. This was accepted by the Assembly of that entity, so the decision on Đukanović's visit was annulled.
The RS celebrates January 9 because on that day in 1992 in Sarajevo, the then Assembly of the Serbian People in Bosnia and Herzegovina passed the "Declaration on the Proclamation of the Republic of the Serbian People of Bosnia and Herzegovina".
That date was challenged twice - in February 1992, the Constitutional Court of the then Republic of BiH annulled the declaration and the Constitution of the Serbian Republic of BiH, while in 2015 the Constitutional Court of BiH contested January 9 as the Day of the RS and declared the celebration of that date unconstitutional, stating, among other things , that that date discriminates against citizens of the RS who are not Orthodox Christians, because that day also marks the glory of the RS - Sveti Stefan.
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