GOGANOVIĆ RESPONDS TO HELEZ: REPUBLIKA SRPSKA WILL EMERGE STRONGER, AND THAT IS WHAT HURTS POLITICAL SARAJEVO THE MOST

EAST SARAJEVO, AUGUST 19 /SRNA/ – Deputy Minister of Defense in the Council of Ministers Aleksandar Goganović has stressed that the political verdict against the President of Republika Srpska and the decision to revoke his mandate only strengthen Republika Srpska, while further weakening BiH and deepening divisions.

"Republika Srpska will emerge stronger from all of this, and that is what hurts political Sarajevo the most," Goganović stated. Responding to the statement by the Minister of Defense in the Council of Ministers Zukan Helez that "BiH has won" and that the "Serbian World has collapsed like a house of cards," Goganović said in a statement to SRNA that Helez has fallen into an obvious contradiction. "When the President of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić, and Serbia as a guarantor of the Dayton Agreement, comments on events in BiH, Helez attacks him and claims that Serbia should not interfere, while at the same time giving himself the right to comment on Serbia's internal affairs. That is political hypocrisy, showing all his inconsistency," Goganović stressed. He noted that it is particularly concerning that Helez, instead of dealing with serious problems in the Federation of BiH /FBiH/, such as crime and corruption in the defense industry, tries to divert attention with cheap political messages directed against Republika Srpska and Serbia. "The defense industry in the FBiH has long been a source of private profits for certain political elites, about which the competent judicial institutions will have more to say. Instead of explaining where the millions from these factories disappear, the minister engages in petty political attacks," Goganović stated. He assessed that such statements, like Helez's, do not contribute to stability or trust in BiH. "Republika Srpska will continue to strengthen its institutions and to safeguard its rights guaranteed by the Dayton Agreement, regardless of the irresponsible and frivolous comments of certain politicians from Sarajevo. President Milorad Dodik has the full support of the people and institutions of Srpska, and all attempts by political Sarajevo to weaken him are doomed to fail. President Dodik is the symbol of the fight for Dayton, for peace, and for the equality of the Serb people, and that is a strength that no one can destroy," Goganović said.