Aleksandar Vucic (BETAPHOTO/MILOS MISKOV)
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said during a Jan. 5 visit to Trebinje that Serbia was committed to dialogue and would do everything to preserve peace, but made it clear that the country was not naive and that it would be prepared to defend itself against a potential aggressor from the region.
Speaking at a ceremony marking Republika Srpska Day on Jan. 9 - a holiday declared unconstitutional by the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina - Vucic said Serbia “was willing to talk and wants peace,” but added that in less than two years it planned to double its military capabilities, because freedom is “the supreme value for every Serb.” He said that “the dirtiest of campaigns has been waged against Serbia across the entire region, not only in Pristina and Zagreb, which is commonplace, but also in Sarajevo and Podgorica.”
Vucic said the authorities in Belgrade “understand very well the new military alliance” of Zagreb, Pristina and Tirana, adding that there is a “clear and visible attempt by Zagreb to place Podgorica under its full control and to involve everyone in its overall anti-Serb policy.” The remarks were made in the presence of the leader of the Bosnian Serb entity’s ruling coalition, Milorad Dodik, and Srpska government officials.
The Serbian president said that the entity could continue to count on Serbia’s support. “We will continue to support all projects at the level of Republka Srpska. We wanted to help at the level of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina as well, but they did not want our hand, our support and our assistance,” Vucic said.
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