MOSCOW. May 28 (Interfax) - Russia and Republika Srpska are developing partnership, which is assuming a strategic nature, Russian Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu said.
"We highly value partnership between Russia and Republika Srpska. We are satisfied with how the entire range of our ties is developing, and they're assuming a strategic nature," Shoigu said at a meeting with Republika Srpska President Milorad Dodik in Moscow on Wednesday.
Russia closely follows events in Bosnia and Herzegovina and sees the West's pressure on Republika Srpska, Shoigu said. "The goal of this policy is clear: removing the patriotic forces under your guidance from power," he said.
"We view the sentence handed down upon you as an element of a campaign launched against Republika Srpska and the Serbian people in general. Your independent position and unwillingness to obey influence from the outside obviously hinder the Western neocolonial strategy aimed at gaining total control in the region," he said.
"We will continue to support Republika Srpska. We are determined to facilitate its development as much as we can based on respecting the Dayton principles of sovereignty, territorial integrity, and equitability of the three constitutive nations and two entities with broad constitutional powers. A branch of our embassy to Bosnia and Herzegovina opened in Banja Luka is also intended to promote this," he said.
Shoigu and Dodik negotiated on the sidelines of an international security conference being held in Moscow under the Russian Security Council's aegis.