The American news agency AP writes that today "the Serbian populist president called for peace and harmony in the Balkans, even though he and the leader of the Bosnian Serb separatists organized a large nationalist rally where they called for the 'unity' of all Serbs in the region, a message that raised eyebrows in neighboring countries".
The agency writes that "the 'All-Serbian Parliament' under the slogan 'One nation, one parliament' included thousands of Bosnian Serbs and those who traveled to the Serbian capital Belgrade from neighboring countries, including Montenegro and North Macedonia".
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That gathering was organized "just a few weeks after the United Nations General Assembly voted to declare July 11 of each year as the International Day of Remembrance and Remembrance for the 1995 Srebrenica genocide of more than 8.000 Bosnian Muslim boys and men by Bosnian Serb forces. Serbia and Bosnian Serbs strongly opposed the adoption of that decision" - writes AP.
Today's gathering, AP continues, also included "Orthodox church prayers and folk dances and carried the main message that Serbs, wherever they live, are one nation that strives for the same goals."
In the declaration from the "Sabor" it is said: "The All-Serbian Parliament notes that the Serbian people represent a unique entity. The Serbian people have had several states with different names throughout history and have the right to cherish their rich traditions" - quotes AP.
The agency writes that "the idea initiated by Serbian nationalists that all Serbs living in the Western Balkans should be part of the same political sphere and live in a common state led to the breakup of Yugoslavia in the 1990s, according to many historians and analysts."
"Such ideas are being pushed again in Serbia, even though its increasingly authoritarian president Aleksandar Vučić and Bosnian Serb president Milorad Dodik tried to downplay all threats to the region today at a meeting in Belgrade," it was further assessed.
"Dodik, who arrived at the rally directly from one of his frequent meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, constantly insists that the half of Bosnia controlled by Bosnian Serbs separate from the loose union and join neighboring Serbia," AP said.
The agency quotes Dodik as saying that "the multipolar world that is coming is something different from what used to be a world dominated by one side (the West) and we have to understand those relations" and adds that Dodik said that Vučić "understands that better than others".
Vučić stated that "Serbia will never leave Bosnian Serbs in the lurch", writes AP and quotes from his speech: "My only request to you is to try everything peacefully and in dialogue with all other nations (in Bosnia), in accordance with the Dayton Agreement , to solve all problems".
AP reminds that "the USA, which partially sanctioned Dodik for his separatist moves, said that it will defend Bosnian unity with all available means" and then states that Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, in a message to the participants of the meeting in Belgrade, "gave tacit support to Bosnian Serb separatists ".
Lavrov said, writes AP, that "Russia will never turn a blind eye to any injustice towards the fraternal Serbian people and attempts to demonize them, trampling on their legitimate rights."
"Together with other freedom-loving nations, we will continue to build a new world order based on equality, dialogue, mutual respect and mutual appreciation of interests," Lavrov said.
"Western officials believe that Russia is trying to destabilize the Balkans in order to divert at least part of the attention from its war in Ukraine. Although it is formally seeking membership in the European Union, Serbia has refused to join the Western sanctions against Russia," AP writes at the end.
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