During a press conference in Banja Luka today, Republika Srpska (RS) President Milorad Dodik issued a warning to Serbs employed in the joint institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), declaring that they risk being labeled “permanent traitors.”

“We will display their names on plaques wherever possible—through media and other channels. We will not accept betrayal,” Dodik stated.

Dodik emphasized that many Serbs hold their positions not due to exceptional expertise, but simply because they are Serbs. “Those mandates belong to the Serbian people and RS, not to the individuals,” he remarked.

He insisted that should the RS National Assembly decide on the return of mandates, such a demand must be met.

“The RS cannot afford to forgive and we will not forget those who choose to stay,” Dodik added.

In other news, the Sarajevo-based portal Istraga reported that the Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA) has temporarily halted operations within the territory of Republika Srpska. Although there is no official order from SIPA signaling this, its director Darko Ćulum, who hails from RS, is said to have instructed his team to suspend all activities in the entity.

Reports suggest that SIPA is permitted to conduct only “intelligence” operations in RS but is restricted from executing any significant actions until mid-next week, when a final decision on the agency’s operations will be announced.

This incident follows the RS National Assembly’s passing of a law on Thursday that restricts the actions of the BiH Prosecutor’s Office, the BiH Court, and SIPA within RS territory. Subsequently, Ćulum was invited to attend a meeting in Banja Luka with RS’s Ministry of Interior leadership.

Despite the pressure, it’s reported that Ćulum declined to issue a formal order barring SIPA personnel from working in RS. Instead, to ease tensions, he instructed department heads to scale back most activities in RS by Wednesday and cease operational collaborations with the RS Ministry of the Interior.

In a contrasting report, Ćulum later told the Sarajevo-based newspaper “Oslobodjenje” that the information regarding SIPA’s operational suspension was false.

As per Istraga, the Republika Srpska Ministry of Interior today disregarded two orders from the Prosecutor’s Office of BiH and failed to provide SIPA with records on two individuals from Banja Luka arrested for allegedly threatening Sena Uzunović, the BiH Court judge overseeing the trial against Dodik.

During the press conference, Dodik confronted a journalist from the Television of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FTV), Đorđe Vujatović, after he asked a question.

“What are you doing here? There are so many media outlets, and you’ve chosen that one. We are democrats and respect all opportunities, yet an RTRS journalist cannot pose a question there (in the Federation of BiH); it hasn’t happened in 15 years. Here, I respect you,” Dodik remarked.

He pressed Vujatović to “try to get out” and questioned his salary, implying that the journalist was instructed by his editorial office to question him carefully.

Dodik: Ensuring Safety for Bosniaks

Dodik further announced that tomorrow he will join the Serbian Chairperson of the BiH Presidency, Željka Cvijanović, at a meeting with the RS Minister of Internal Affairs to ensure that police operate strictly within legal boundaries, stressing that “no violence against anyone must be tolerated.”

He articulated the need for police to engage with Bosniak communities, assuring them of RS’s commitment to their security and stating, “not a single Bosniak, Muslim, will come to harm.”

Dodik warned that any Serb who attempts to threaten the stability or security of Bosniaks will face consequences from the RS police.

Regarding SIPA’s activity in RS, Dodik affirmed that the agency would be prohibited from operating within RS once the law passed by the RS National Assembly takes effect. This law specifically bars SIPA, along with the state court and prosecutor’s office of BiH, from functioning in RS.

“The moment this law is enacted, anyone displaying a SIPA identification card in Republika Srpska will be arrested as their operations will be officially prohibited,” Dodik concluded.

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