JOLOVIĆ: SRPSKA IS A HISTORICAL EXAMPLE OF PARALLEL CREATION OF STATE AND ARMY

ZVORNIK, May 11 /SRNA/ – Republika Srpska is a historical example of how the Republika Srpska state and its Army (RSA) were formed in parallel, Milan Jolović Legenda, retired RSA Colonel, told SRNA today.

Jolović emphasized that the RSA made an enormous contribution to protecting the Serb people by preventing a repeat of 1914 and 1941—periods when Serbs were massacred en masse and driven from their ancient homes to slaughter, camps, and execution sites. He noted that Serbs organized in time and formed an army whose primary mission was to protect the population and consolidate their territories. “Knowing that it is the state that fights the war and the army that wages armed combat, the RSA will be inscribed in golden letters in Serbian history, because for the first time west of the Drina River it succeeded in creating and defending a state, thereby safeguarding the Serb people from extermination and expulsion,” Jolović said. According to him, the RSA demonstrated unity and strength in those difficult times—when the state was being built in parallel with the Ministry of Internal Affairs—to achieve the state’s political objectives, namely to defend its territory and people. He attributed this success above all to the unity of the political and military leadership, which did not allow any divisions or discord to arise. The Army of Republika Srpska was formed on May 12, 1992, and at the end of the Defense–Homeland War numbered 210,000 fighters, of whom 23,752 were killed. After 14 years of existence, the Army was incorporated into the Armed Forces of BiH, where its military heritage and identity are preserved by the Third Infantry (Republika Srpska) Regiment.