BELGRADE, April 11. /TASS/. Republika Srpska (RS, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the B&H) must stop any kind of interaction with the North Atlantic Alliance, RS President Milorad Dodik told a news conference on Tuesday.

"I will demand that all members of the commission for cooperation with NATO, formed by the Council of Ministers, stop their work, because their work there is meaningless," Dodik stressed.

Earlier, Dodik stated that the West was urging the Serbian people to forget NATO's aggression against Yugoslavia and agree to use the loans given to repair the damage of bombings.

On March 23, the government of Republika Srpska decided to suspend contacts with the embassies of the United States and Britain. Republika Srpska stressed that "the suspension of cooperation will last until the US and British embassies abandon interference in B&H affairs." Dodik noted that such a decision was "forced by the US and British sides," which did not sign the Dayton Agreement, but openly supported the high representative, appointed illegally and without the UN Security Council’s consent.

Republika Srpska also declared its readiness to declare independence in light of plans by UN High Representative to the B&H Christian Schmidt, for adopting a new property law, which implies the handover of the properties used by the Republika Srpska government, as well as local authorities and businesses, to Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Organization of Bosnia-Herzegovina

According to the constitution, proposed in the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia (Dayton Agreement), signed in Paris on December 14, 1995, the B&H consists of two entities: the Muslim-Croat Federation of Bosnia- Herzegovina (about 51% of the country) and Republika Srpska (about 49% of the territory), as well as the Brcko District. There are three main peoples proportionally represented in the system of government: Bosniaks (Slavs converted to Islam), Serbs (Orthodox), and Croats (Catholics).

The country is essentially governed through a high representative of the international community (a post created under the Dayton Agreement), who is appointed by the Steering Board of the Peace Implementation Council for Bosnia and Herzegovina after approval by the UN Security Council. The functions of the head of state are performed by a collective body, the B&H Presidency. In May 2021, the ambassadors of the steering committee’s member-countries decided to appoint Schmidt as the new High Representative to the B&H without the UN Security Council’s approval.

Russia, a member of the committee, opposed this decision. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov previously stated that Bosnia-Herzegovina was an established state and that outside attempts to direct processes in that country were an atavism that must be eliminated immediately. At present, the RS leadership does not recognize Schmidt's legitimacy and intends to withdraw its consent to have a common army and a common judicial and prosecutorial council of the B&H.