IT IS IMPORTANT THAT RUSSIA FIRMLY SUPPORTS THE ORIGINAL DAYTON AGREEMENT

BANJA LUKA, OCTOBER 3 /SRNA/ - The consistent position of the Russian Federation that the Dayton Peace Agreement must be fully implemented and that dialogue is the only way to resolve issues in BiH is of great importance, as emphasized at the meeting between the President of Srpska and the President of Russia, Milorad Dodik and Vladimir Putin, in Sochi, Bojan Šolaja of the Center for International and Security Studies told SRNA.

"There is no other way to resolve any of the outstanding issues in BiH. The future of BiH depends solely on the people who live in it," Šolaja stressed. He emphasized that this is exactly what Republika Srpska has essentially been seeking all these years, since it must not be allowed that decisions on BiH are made by those who, in every way, have tried to undermine the fundamental document on which BiH rests, the Dayton Peace Agreement. Šolaja noted that they also made it possible, through imposed institutions, to establish a system in which even the Constitutional Court of BiH tramples on the very Constitution it is supposed to uphold. "We are facing a crisis in BiH, but it is good that Russia, as a guarantor of Dayton, insists on a return to the original agreement. For this reason, Republika Srpska will, as in previous years, submit a report to the UN Security Council, and the Russian Federation has offered, which is very good, to present it," Šolaja emphasized. Unfortunately, he noted, there is also a situation where reports of the High Representatives, including the illegitimate Christian Schmidt, are submitted to the Security Council sessions. He emphasized that, unfortunately, there is a communication crisis, and it is questionable whether the Security Council in recent years has even taken into consideration the reports on the situation in BiH submitted by Republika Srpska. "Those who live in BiH simply cannot provide credible information about what is happening here, because only the opinion of one individual is taken into account, which is unacceptable, especially if he is illegitimate and has no authority to interfere in the internal affairs of BiH," Šolaja said. He emphasized that it is important to return to the framework of the Dayton Agreement, because what Schmidt and his predecessors have done has no basis in this agreement. "The conclusions of the London Peace Conference in December 1995 assumed only a single High Representative, at that time Carl Bildt, and no one spoke of a second, third, or fifth. Unfortunately, for 30 years, BiH has lived as a hostage to those who interpret Dayton rather than implement it, and it is time for that to end," Šolaja emphasized. Šolaja stated that the Russian Federation is aware of its responsibility and seeks to return everything to the formal framework in which BiH is supposed to function, rather than allowing things to proceed chaotically as they have until now.