Dodik preparing to go to Russia before elections, threatening all blockades in BiH Council of Ministers over gas pipeline

(Patria) - Milorad Dodik, candidate for the President of RS and SNSD president, spoke today with the Russian Ambassador to BiH Igor Kalabuhov. He confirmed to the media that he is preparing for a new meeting in Russia at the end of September. According to him, the meeting was agreed upon earlier, but it is interesting that he is announcing a trip to Russia just before the General Elections in BiH and during the election campaign. 

He added that he informed the ambassador that the situation in BiH is completely blocked. 

"We discussed how to resolve issues related to the gas pipeline. Bosniaks in the Council of Ministers did not want to vote for it to be on the agenda after 12 years. As long as we are in power, and I believe we will remain in power after the elections, no project in BiH will pass until the issue of the gas pipeline passing to Banja Luka is approved," Dodik stated.

We remind you that this refers to the Eastern Interconnection project, which was on the agenda along with the Southern Interconnection project. At the BiH Council of Ministers session on July 5, there was no agreement on the Eastern Interconnection project towards the borders of the Republic of Serbia - Bosnia and Herzegovina - Bijeljina - Banja Luka - Prijedor - Novi Grad, which is why ministers of Serb ethnicity did not support the construction of the Southern Interconnection, which would allow BiH to receive gas from Croatia and free itself from Russian dependence. 

Unlike the Southern Interconnection, whose construction is also supported by the international community, the Eastern Interconnection is a plan of the RS Government and does not have all the necessary opinions.