DODIK: I WILL TRAVEL TO AMERICA AS SOON AS I HAVE PPORTUNITY

BELGRADE, NOVEMBER 12 /SRNA/ – SNSD Leader Milorad Dodik says he will travel to the United States as soon as he has the opportunity, where he is expected to hold high-level talks on normalizing relations.

Speaking on the panel "EU and the Western Balkans" at the Euronews Adria Summit in Belgrade, Dodik said negotiations on lifting US sanctions were brief, that the Americans asked him to be a conversation partner, and that there was no discussion about lithium. "I also spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin several times about this, most recently in Sochi, where I told him that Republika Srpska has a problem with the Americans regarding the sanctions issue, and Putin told me - do everything and repair those relations," Dodik said. He expressed great gratitude to President of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić and Foreign Minister of Serbia Marko Đurić for their contributions, as well as to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and the Serb community in the US. "We believe relations should be normalized and now we are moving toward a strategic Serbia–US dialogue, which will include intergovernmental talks and the status of Serbs wherever they live. That is an excellent thing," Dodik said, adding that those talks cannot start immediately. Speaking about the court proceedings against him, Dodik said that they removed him from the position of President of Republika Srpska by a court ruling, thereby overthrowing the Constitution, while ordinary courts have become constitution-makers. "The Constitution counts for nothing. And why do you think we will not fight this? That will not do," Dodik said.