Did not attend the event in Višegrad: Russian volunteers banned from entering Bosnia and Herzegovina

(Patria) - The president of the Serbian-Russian community "Zavet", Savo Cvjetinović, stated that Russian volunteers were not allowed to enter Bosnia and Herzegovina and attend the Day of Russian Volunteers.

In his address today in Višegrad, Cvjetinović said that the authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina did not allow Russian volunteers to enter the country and mark the Day of Russian Volunteers, a gathering that the Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina has been investigating since 2022, reports Detektor.

- A decision was made, somewhere in Bosnia and Herzegovina, to deny Russian volunteers entry into Bosnia and Herzegovina, and that is why they are not here today. Members of their families have come. This decision shows the attitude of the other side, the Muslim and Croatian side, towards us - said Cvjetinović at the event, which gathered around 100 people.

He did not provide details about the entry ban for Russian volunteers. And the authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina have not publicly commented on it.

Every year, on April 12, the Day of Russian Volunteers is marked in Višegrad. Family members of Russian volunteers are regular guests at this event, along with representatives of local authorities.

Their gathering has been under investigation by the Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina since 2022, but so far no results have been announced regarding the regular annual event at which respect is paid to volunteers fighting on Russia's side in the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which is prohibited by domestic laws.

As stated at today's gathering, it is assumed that around 700 Russians fought within the VRS, that 37 of them were killed, and of those, seven in battles near Višegrad. Most of them fought on the Višegrad and Sarajevo battlefields.

Among those gathered, students from the Višegrad secondary school also attended, and the gathering was observed by EUFOR members.

The Minister of Labour, War Veterans and Disabled Persons Protection of the RS, Radan Ostojić, said that "help for Serbs came only from the Russian brothers" and welcomed the daughters of Aleksandar Kravčenko, a volunteer who was not present at the ceremony.

- The Russian Federation makes a huge contribution to ensuring that the Serbian people are not characterised as genocidal in international organisations through various resolutions - said Ostojić.

The president of the Serbian-Russian community "Zavet", Savo Cvjetinović, says that the relationship between Russia and Serbs is "at a genetic level" and that the arrival of Russian volunteers in Bosnia and Herzegovina was a "genetic call".

- They often call Russian influence "malignant", while theirs is threatening and brutal, and we simply have no way out. This pressure we are enduring and the imposition of solutions on Serbs warns us to return to the right path - Serbia, the RS and Russia - the holy trinity - stated Cvjetinović.

The mayor of Višegrad, Mladen Đurević, said that the Russian volunteers paid a high price and that they came to "Republika Srpska in difficult times".

The president of the Presidency of the Veterans' Organisation of the RS, Milovan Gagić, told those gathered that Russia and Serbs are united by a "special bond" and that they rely on each other.

- We must defend all the principles that the West is trying to undermine. To defend the cross and to defend the survival of the world as it should be. God willing, Russia, which is now strong, will grow stronger day by day because only then do we have a guarantee of survival, not only for Orthodox Christians, because what is coming from outside Russia is the end of the world - said Gagić.

The Day of Russian Volunteers is included in the calendar of significant events of the RS, and the Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina opened a case in 2022, following a report by the Association "Woman - Victim of War" regarding the announcement of the "Marking of the Day of Russian Volunteers" on April 12.

Earlier research by Detektor revealed that the Višegrad gathering is attended by former Russian volunteers who hold important roles in associations of today's pro-Russian fighters in Ukraine.

The research revealed that some of the former volunteers who come to Višegrad openly promote going to the foreign battlefield in Ukraine in this town, even though encouraging joining a foreign military formation is prohibited by law.