Bosnia Serbs Vow to Block NATO Accession Plan

Republika Srpska President Milorad Dodik said on Thursday that Bosnia's Serb-dominated entity will not get involved in any activities to implement Bosnia and Herzegovina's NATO Membership Action Plan, MAP programme.

Dodik said that this was in accordance with Republika Srpska's declaration on military neutrality, and insisted that all representatives of the entity must abide by it.

He claimed that NATO only supports Bosniaks in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

"RS will reject all proposals, regardless of the NATO alliance," Dodik told media after meeting Aleksandar Vulin, the defence minister of Serbia, which has also declared military neutrality.

"We support the policies of military neutrality that are being carried out by Serbia. The RS parliament has also adopted a declaration on military neutrality and at this time we are trying to develop models to apply this declaration, and we have the right to do so, no matter what they say, because that is our position within Bosnia and Herzegovina," Dodik said. 

In October, the Bosnian Serb entity's assembly passed a largely symbolic resolution declaring the neutrality of Republika Srpska in relation to military alliances - a perceived counterpoint to Bosnian state moves to join NATO.

The resolution said Republika Srpska is committed to coordinating its future status with Serbia, where opposition to NATO membership remains strong after the military alliance bombed the country in 1999 in a bid to stop its campaign in Kosovo.

Russia has also been urging military neutrality for Bosnia and Herzegovina.

However, Bosnian state-level officials believe that Dodik does not have the authority to block activities within the Membership Action Plan, which the country requested in 2009 but has...