Dodik: Referendum to go ahead, Serbia picked wrong partner

Dodik: Referendum to go ahead, Serbia picked wrong partner

"It would have been far more appropriate if a meeting between the Serbian government and the governments of the two entities was held in Sarajevo, Mostar, or Banja Luka. Bosnia-Herzegovina has no state government! The entities have governments."

According to him, relations between Serbia and the RS are "truly at an enviably high level - which does not mean that they cannot be better."

"I they will be, and the bridge on the Drina River which will connect the Bratunac and Ljubovija, rather, the RS and Serbia, that we will build together, is one of a series of joint projects," said Dodik.

He also spoke about the planned referendum on the work of the Prosecutor and the Court of Bosnia-Herzegovina, to say it will certainly be organized in the Serb entity.

He added that the RS will do everything to, through democratic means, recover its authentic powers from the Dayton peace agreement.

Dodik said the Serb people have regained faith in the RS, which is a "perpetual unchanging category," while "any kind of unitary Bosnia-Herzegovina, regardless of how much they want it in Sarajevo, is out of the question."

Bosnia- Herzegovina, according to him, "is not, nor will it ever be, a stable state for as long as the foreign factor decides about it."

"In fact, Bosnia-Herzegovina lives thanks exclusively to international interventionism. And for as long as that is the case, as long as foreigners are the ones who want a Bosnia to suit Bakir Izetbegovic and his ilk, as long as they have influence in financial, military and all other issues, Bosnia-Herzegovina will not stand on its own feet," said Dodik.

According to him, 20 years after the Dayton agreement that ended the war, the position of the RS is "very, very stable - despite the fact that its stability is accosted without consideration from the outside, and from Sarajevo."

According to him, in Bosnia there is constantly "a clash of some centralist policies, led by Bakir Izetbegovic, but also by all the other leaders of political parties with the Bosniak marking, and the Dayton Bosnia, whose positions are defended by the RS." He added the entity "unfortunately, thanks to the arrogance of high representatives , above all of Paddy Ashdown, lost much of its statehood given to it by by the authentic Dayton."

"The RS will, it must be clear to everyone, do everything to, by democratic means - and I stress, by democratic means - recover the lost jurisdiction. Of course, this is a long process that will take time but a process that must take place," Dodik said.

He stated that "representatives of the Alliance for Change in Sarajevo are conducting a subservient policy, supporting the views and opinions of the leader of the SDA, Bakir Izetbegovic" - that is, a unitary Bosnia-Herzegovina, and added:

"Regardless of the fact they are ignoring the RS institutions, the government and the National Assembly, I am still ready for dialogue. Not because I need it, but because of the fact the RS institutions's stances, at least on all the vital issues, must be also be the stances of representatives of the Alliance for Change in institutions of the Bosnia-Herzegovina authorities," Dodik said.

Asked "how Russia will react to the RS expecting to receive a loan from the United States," Dodik said that Russia is "a proven and sincere friend" of the entity "that never put forward conditions or blackmailed" - and that "Russia's help and support will not depend on possible assistance from the U.S."