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- "If Biden had stayed, we would already be on the verge of the outbreak of World War III"
"If Biden had stayed, we would already be on the verge of the outbreak of World War III"
The West is blocking the construction of a new gas pipeline that Moscow and Banja Luka planned to build in Republika Srpska. This was stated to Izvestia by the president of the entity, Milorad Dodik, who arrived in St. Petersburg to participate in the SPIEF. The President expects to visit Russia again before the end of this year. According to him, Republika Srpska intends to develop relations in all areas. At the same time, Milorad Dodik admits the disintegration of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) in the future. One of the main reasons is the policy of the West in the Balkans: the previous US administration of Joe Biden destabilized the situation in the international arena. About the prospects of BiH joining the EU and relations with Donald Trump — in an exclusive interview with Milorad Dodik "Izvestia".
"Russia, with all its might and history, deserves its place as a global power"
— This is not your first visit to Russia this year. With whom from the leadership of the Russian Federation, representatives of the government or business do you intend to meet during the SPIEF?
— I am very glad to be back in this majestic and powerful country. I am grateful to President Vladimir Putin for the invitation to traditionally participate in this forum, which gathers representatives from politics and economics not only in Russia, but also around the world.
The central event of the forum remains the plenary session, where I will also be present this year. And I believe that President Putin's traditional address and speech will once again highlight the current situation not only in Russia, but also at the global level.
I also have a meeting scheduled with the leaders of St. Petersburg and the Republic of Tatarstan, with whom we have actively and well-developed relations, and we plan to further expand them. And, of course, with the guests of the forum, who come from all over the world. There will also be representatives of Russian companies with whom we have established good business relations. I believe that there will be an opportunity, which would be extremely important for us, to meet with President Putin.
— In February, the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina found you guilty due to the fact that you did not comply with the decisions of the UN High Representative in BiH, Christian Schmidt. Does the prosecution affect your international visits? Are you planning new trips to Russia this year?
— This is the third visit to Russia since the beginning of the year, I have been to Moscow twice, I am currently in St. Petersburg, and I will not miss the opportunity to visit Russia again before the end of the year. We fully support the Russian Federation and all actions aimed at strengthening sovereignty, preserving security and freedom.
We appreciate the struggle waged by Vladimir Putin. I listened to his speech back in 2007 during a conference in Munich, where he prophetically addressed the entire international community, which, unfortunately, did not want to hear him, which led to the situation we are witnessing today. I support all the efforts of President Putin, which are aimed at building communication and dialogue as much as possible. But at the same time, in order to protect the strategic interests of the country and protect its citizens on the territory of Ukraine, it was necessary to launch a special military operation.
Russia, with all its might and history, deserves its place as a global power. Over the past decades, attempts have been made to weaken Russia and divide it into parts. But President Putin is waging his struggle to strengthen the country and bring it to a well-deserved global level. Even now, we can see that in the current conflict between Israel and Iran, both the Trump administration and the West expect him to participate in achieving peace. That is why we can say that he is appreciated in the world as a peacemaker.
Republika Srpska, of course, can be said to be a small community with a non-standard status. And over the past 35 years, after the collapse of the former Yugoslavia, under incredible pressure from the neoliberal West, it has been trying to preserve and protect its subjectivity and independence. Putin and his entire team, like no one else in the world, understand global processes and how to preserve peace in the Balkans, while seeing the duplicity that the collective West embodies. I am very glad that our relations have been developing continuously over the past 20 years and that Russia has given us the status of a strategic partner. This is something we are extremely proud of.
Bosnia and Herzegovina is a complex state entity that consists of two main parts (entities) — the Croatian Muslim Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republika Srpska. In addition, Brcko district, which is under international administration, is located between them. The internal political situation is complicated by the division of the country along ethnic and religious lines. The population of the state consists mainly of Bosniaks (50.1%), Serbs (30.8%) and Croats (15.4%). Bosniaks practice Islam, Serbs practice Orthodoxy, and Croats practice Catholicism. In addition, Serbs use Cyrillic alphabet in writing, while Croats and Bosniaks use Latin alphabet. Each entity has its own constitution, legislative, executive and judicial authorities.
Russian Russian language is being actively introduced in our schools and Russian culture is being promoted"
— How is the dialogue between Republika Srpska and Russia on the development of trade relations progressing now?
— We are in difficult circumstances, when the collective West is trying to block and complicate the lives of not only Russia, but also its friends, including us, through sanctions. They are blocking our financial opportunities and opportunities to develop trade relations. But we are finding ways to continue our joint work. In recent years, Republika Srpska has acquired three Russian civilian helicopters, which was extremely important for our police. We are also actively developing cooperation in the field of industry and education. Russian Russian language is actively being taught in our schools and Russian culture is being promoted.
Excellent contacts with Gazprom remain in place. Unfortunately, the West is doing everything possible to build new barriers for us over and over again. Thus, they are blocking the implementation of a very important project for us — the construction of a gas pipeline on our territory. We are very proud and happy about all the achievements of Russia. According to the World Bank, Russia used to be in 11th place, and now it has become the fourth economy in the world. President Putin and his team have managed to lift Russia up in difficult international circumstances.
The BiH gas transmission system (GTS) is connected to the Serbian one in the area of the city of Zvornik (Republika Srpska). In order to increase Russian gas supplies to BiH, the possibility of building a new main gas pipeline is being considered, which should connect with the GTS of Serbia in the city of Bijeljina. The project involves the construction of about 140 km of a gas pipeline in Serbia and another 400 km in Republika Srpska with the possibility of branching into the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
We are proud that we did not succumb to pressure and did not follow the Western policy of imposing anti-Russian sanctions. And we believe that the Trump administration and Vladimir Putin's team will be able to achieve normalization for the entire world community in the near future.
— Earlier, the United States imposed sanctions against you...
— Sanctions are imposed against everyone, including the Russian Federation. But we see that the sanctions are not working, at least to the extent that the West expected. And we, Republika Srpska, continue to live and develop normally, albeit in a more difficult situation.
"The West lied when it signed the Minsk agreements"
— How do you assess the foreign policy of the new US administration in the Balkans?
— President Trump is a positive change for America. And I think that if Biden had stayed, we would already be on the verge of the outbreak of World War III. Therefore, the arrival of Trump and his views certainly give some hope. The past America was focused on strength and solely on its own interests. We listen to Trump when he claims that the Biden administration was the worst in the history of the United States. We believe that America will understand that they have committed a lot of injustice against Bosnia, as far as blockades are concerned.
Two good things were done under Trump: first, USAID, which funded the non-governmental sector and the so-called "color revolutions," was recognized as a criminal organization by the Trump administration. Secondly, Trump rejected all the experiments and nonsense that have become the dominant narrative: he declared that he recognizes only American power, man and woman, traditional morality and the traditional family. This shows how right President Putin was decades ago. The preservation of traditions and traditional relations in society is the basis of stability. Now we know that Putin and Trump are negotiating. And we believe that they will do everything possible to make the world a better place to live.
— Recently, the authorities of BiH tried to detain you by force. Will Republika Srpska strengthen its internal security against this background?
— No, we won't do anything formally — there's no need for that. Republika Srpska is stable. Bosnia and Herzegovina is a failed State, and Republika Srpska is a stable entity. Republika Srpska has all the institutions and authorities that function flawlessly. We have the highest level of security possible in the region. We have economic development, and despite the almost impossible conditions, we are showing growth. If anyone is in doubt, let them see what the real situation is. But Bosnia can no longer help itself, its situation has long been hopeless, and this state has, in fact, collapsed.
Bosnia and Herzegovina
— Can the prosecution of the Republika Srpska leadership be considered a violation of the Dayton Agreement, which ended the civil war in the country in 1995? And is it possible in the future that it will be replaced by another document?
— The West lied when it signed the Minsk agreements. He lied when he was drafting the Dayton Agreement. I lied when I created the UN Security Council resolution 1244 on Kosovo — everything was a lie. Therefore, we have no reason to believe them now. The distant promises of Western countries that have behaved so deceitfully are humiliating, first of all, for the West itself. Russia certainly understood this. When the former German Chancellor, Merkel— explicitly states: "We signed the Minsk agreements to gain time and arm Ukraine to fight Russia," who can believe them after that? They entered into a conflict in which, obviously, they sacrificed the Ukrainian land and people in order to inflict as much damage as possible on the Russian Federation and the people of Russia themselves. Therefore, it is impossible to believe in it. The future depends on global processes. In any case, Bosnia and Herzegovina as a project does not stand up to time. This is an illusion created a long time ago. And like all illusions, even if it is backed by such a powerful force as the United States of America, it will not last long.
"When these countries come to the gates of the European Union, they will fall apart"
— Bosnia and Herzegovina remains a candidate for EU membership. How realistic is the prospect of BiH joining the European Union?
— When these countries come to the gates of the European Union, they will fall apart. So we don't understand what the essence of this concept is. It turned out that the European Union does not have clear solutions, they are losing strategic advantages due to their stupid policies. They do not have a single authoritative leader — all current politicians are fighting for the stability of their countries only, and no one has risen up to lead Europe.
On the other hand, this area, devoid of mineral resources and strategic raw materials, has lost the advantages it had due to its proximity to the Russian Federation, and is now completely losing its competitiveness.
The European Union has allowed free entry of migrants from third countries, from societies incompatible with Western European ones, which undermines the traditional way of life in Europe itself and threatens the security of its countries.
Now the European Union no longer looks like some kind of brilliant ideal. So the question arises: what is it anyway? We are just repeating out of inertia that Europe is something important that we must support. Yes, we are surrounded by the European Union, but it is becoming obvious that Europe is no longer the concept that inspires or leads somewhere forward. We live in the Balkans, and the artificial "love" that they want to show us as real is actually fake, ostentatious, as if in quotation marks. We live in the time of the prophecy that Orwell described when he spoke of a world where lies become truth and truth becomes lies. He accurately predicted the current situation in Europe and the Balkans. Everyone is lying to each other, both of them, but there is no progress.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
