EXPOSING SCHMIDT'S STATUS INVALIDATES ALL DECISIONS AGAINST SRPSKA PRESIDENT

BELGRADE, August 8 /SRNA/ – The clarification and confirmation of Christian Schmidt’s status is something that must consistently be insisted upon, especially if a UN Security Council session on the situation in BiH takes place, because exposing his illegal actions in BiH would effectively nullify all decisions made against Republika Srpska President Milorad Dodik, Ambassador Branko Branković cited in his SRNA statement.

Branković explained that during the closed consultations held last night in New York at the UN headquarters, initiated by Russia, the Russian representative Dmitry Polyanskiy pointed out that Dodik was prosecuted based on the decisions of an illegitimate High Representative, Christian Schmidt, who was neither approved by the UN Security Council nor by Republika Srpska. "That is what we must insist on. Dodik has been very clear about this. The CEC's decision and the initiative behind it is entirely illegal! Who is Schmidt, after all? He's a mere tourist, without any authority he would have had if he were sent to BiH by the UN Security Council, which he was not," Branković emphasized. He reiterated that Schmidt, as an unauthorized individual, is not entitled to issue any decision that would carry legal weight. "That's crystal clear, there's no need to elaborate further. If Russia requests a Security Council session, it must be definitively clarified during the discussion that Schmidt is unauthorized, and that everything he does in BiH is without authority and has nothing to do with the Security Council or the Dayton Peace Agreement - which we, as signatories to the Dayton Peace Agreement, clearly state," said Branković, who is also a former Serbia's ambassador to the UN. Branković retairarted that Schmidt had no right to initiate anything. "From the moment he crossed the BiH border, he has been a tourist - that is the only status he holds, therefore he has no authority," Branković concluded.