What is their goal: Serbia does not have permission for an anti-terrorist exercise that threatens the sovereignty of BiH!

The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Serbia and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of RS announced in their official meetings a joint anti-terrorist exercise for August 29 this year at the border crossing from Šepak to Loznica. Such an exercise could only have been agreed upon by someone who does not care about peace in the region but about deliberately raising tensions. During the recently concluded visit of US Vice President Joe Biden to Serbia, he said that "Serbia is the key to progress in the region." And this is what it looks like on the ground, writes the Patria News Agency.

On August 16, the commander of the local Border Police from Serbia telephoned the commander of the BiH Border Police in Zvornik and informed him that a large armed exercise would be held. There are two possibilities: either it is an incompetent person from the Serbian Border Police who has shamefully violated international procedures, or it is a brutal disregard for the institutions and the state of BiH.

It is more likely the latter, as everything appears completely unserious and an attempt to humiliate the state of BiH by the authorities in Belgrade.

The Serbian official, who telephoned the commander of the BiH Border Police, even announced that helicopters would be involved in these exercises. Of course, the field staff of the BiH Border Police requested instructions from the Border Police on August 17, the day after the unusual phone call and announcement of the armed exercise. The BiH Border Police merely forwarded this request from the field to the Ministry of Security of BiH.

The Ministry of Security of Bosnia and Herzegovina confirmed to the Patria agency the act of the BiH Border Police with the alleged request of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republika Srpska to hold a joint exercise of the police of RS and the Republic of Serbia on the territory of the municipality of Zvornik. Given that the exercise is planned in the border area, permission from the BiH Border Police is required, which is issued with the prior consent of the Ministry of Security of BiH.

This is something completely different from the alleged announcement of the exercise by official bodies of one entity of this state.

The Ministry of Security of BiH has classified this request as incomplete, so additional information has been requested. The Republic of Serbia should have officially approached Bosnia and Herzegovina. After all, that is why Dayton stipulated that there is a state Ministry of Security and BiH Border Police.

Article 36, paragraph 2 of the Law on Border Control of BiH states that "permission for the entry of members of foreign security services with firearms into the territory of BiH is issued by the BiH Border Police with the prior consent of the Ministry of Security of Bosnia and Herzegovina, provided that it is not contrary to the interests of BiH." The organizers of these armed exercises had to provide a list of police officers who would participate in this exercise.

The Law on Protection of the State Border of Serbia explicitly states that "violation of the state border, i.e., a border incident, is any violation of the inviolability of the state border which is found to be inconsistent with the regulations of the Republic of Serbia on the protection of the state border and international agreements, and which is committed or occurred on the territory of the Republic of Serbia as a consequence of the actions of bodies or another person, or which is committed from the territory of a foreign country by officials of state and local bodies and other persons of that country."

This Serbian law does not mention police or military exercises, and all civilian and military flights near the border are prohibited. Therefore, what Serbia demands from its neighboring countries with its laws, it does not respect when it comes to the rights of the neighboring country BiH.

Some will say that this is about special ties between Serbia and RS. However, there is no word within the special ties of the Republic of Serbia and the entity of RS that would allow such alleged anti-terrorist armed exercises.

Serbia was officially required to seek permission from Bosnia and Herzegovina for such actions at the border crossing. It obviously did not even try, although its Minister of Police, Nebojša Stefanović, officially announced these exercises in Banja Luka on July 29 with the Minister of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of RS, Dragan Lukač.

As many as 20 days have passed since this agreement in Banja Luka, and Stefanović has not approached the institutions of BiH to at least inform them that such armed exercises will be held at the border.

This is a serious threat to the border of the state of BiH and its sovereignty. Such an excessive and arrogant behavior of one state towards the sovereignty of a neighboring state is rarely recorded in international relations. In international law, such actions are treated as an act of state terrorism.