Helez: RS authorities are trying to sneak Serbian institutions into BiH

(Patria) - The Ministry of Defence of BiH has again received a request from the Embassy of Serbia for the overflight and landing of a Serbian Ministry of Internal Affairs helicopter for the purpose of extinguishing a fire in Gacko, the Minister of Defence of BiH Zukan Helez announced on social media this evening.

According to him, no request has been received by the Ministry so far for the engagement of helicopters of the Armed Forces of BiH for the purpose of extinguishing the same fire.

"I repeat, our country's Armed Forces have two crews and two helicopters with winches and sails, with a capacity of 1,000 liters, and our helicopters are immediately ready to perform the task of extinguishing the fire.

I regret that the authorities of the Bosnian-Herzegovinian entity RS are misusing the disaster to draw the institutions of our neighboring country Serbia into the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina to perform the work and authorities of BiH institutions.

If these attempts to undermine the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina are a consequence of the 'All-Serbian Assembly', I tell them that they convened in vain. Their conclusions are superficial and unfeasible, and as long as I am the Minister of Defence of BiH, such a thing will not happen.

Nowhere in the world do countries ask for help from other countries as long as they can overcome difficulties with their own resources.

The authorities of the Bosnian-Herzegovinian entity RS are trying to weaken and render meaningless the central government in our country, and to sneak in the institutions of our neighboring country Serbia to do the job of our state institutions.

I appeal to the authorities of the Bosnian-Herzegovinian entity RS to initiate the procedure in accordance with the law for the engagement of the resources of the Armed Forces of BiH in extinguishing the fire in Gacko.

I expect that, in accordance with their competencies, the Ministry of Security of Bosnia and Herzegovina will send requests and that the Presidency of BiH will approve the engagement of the resources of the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina and thus act with the aim of providing support to our citizens.

The Armed Forces of BiH belong to the citizens of Gacko, as well as to all other citizens in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and are ready to serve.

Finally, I offer the helicopters of the Armed Forces of BiH, if necessary, to help extinguish the fires in our neighboring country, Serbia.

If our neighbors need help with extinguishing fires, we have far more helicopters for such purposes, and according to our assessment and need, two helicopters with crews are currently on full alert and ready to help," Helez stated.