All news

Republika Srpska does not plan to join NATO — leader

Serb member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina Milorad Dodik said that "the first article of the approved reform plan states that it does not envisage membership of Bosnia and Herzegovina in NATO"
Serb member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina Milorad Dodik Mikhail Klimentyev/Russian Presidential Press and Information Office/TASS
Serb member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina Milorad Dodik
© Mikhail Klimentyev/Russian Presidential Press and Information Office/TASS

BELGRADE, January 15. /TASS/. Republika Srpska, one of the two entities of Bosnia and Herzegovina, does not plan to join NATO and will maintain military neutrality, Serb member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina Milorad Dodik told RTS TV channel on Tuesday.

Responding to a question on whether Republika Srpska will join NATO, he said: "No." "The first article of the approved reform plan states that it does not envisage membership of Bosnia and Herzegovina in NATO, and any movement toward NATO will need a new decision of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Our goal is military neutrality, and we don't want NATO's border along the Drina river, on the Serbian border. The document never mentions joining NATO," Dodik explained.

Dodik earlier told TASS in an interview that Republika Srpska is pressured into joining NATO. He said that the West would want all countries to join NATO, but Republika Srpska does not plan to change its strategic priorities, which include maintaining military neutrality. Dodik noted that joining NATO after 1999 bombing of Yugoslavia would justify the Alliance's actions in the now-defunct country.