As Bosnian Serbs mark controversial national day, US warns celebration amounts to 'criminal offense'

BANJA LUKA, Bosnia-Herzegovina — The United States warned on Tuesday that ongoing celebrations of a Bosnian Serb self-proclaimed national holiday — which included a parade of paramilitary and police troops — were in violation of Bosnia's constitution and a 1995 peace agreement, and as such amounted to a criminal offense.

In a statement, the U.S. embassy in Sarajevo urged Bosnia's legal authorities to “investigate any violations of law” related to the marking of Jan. 9 as the day of the Republika Srpska entity, which is what the part of Bosnia run by ethnic Serbs is called.

“The issue is not the celebration of the holiday, but rather the decision to do so on January 9,” the statement said.

The Jan. 9 holiday commemorates the day in 1992 when Bosnian Serbs declared the creation of their own state in Bosnia, igniting the country’s devastating four-year war that killed more than 100,000 people.

Bosnia’s Constitutional Court has ruled against celebrating on that date in the past.

Bosnian Serbs defied both the court and international criticism, staging a parade of troops armed with machine guns, armored vehicles and other equipment. Also participating was the Russian Night Wolves biker group, known for its support for Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Nationalist Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik, a Kremlin ally, said the Serbs won't give up “the day when Republika Srpska was born.” The Russian ambassador in Bosnia was among the rare foreign officials who attended the gathering in the northwestern town of Banja Luka.

“We are looking at Serbia, we are looking at Russia,” Dodik said in his speech. He added that the holiday cannot be banned because "it would mean we have fallen.”

During the war, Bosnian Serbs expelled and killed Bosniaks, who are mostly Muslims, and Croats from the territories they controlled.

The conflict ended in 1995 in a U.S.-brokered peace agreement. The so-called Dayton accords created Serb and Bosniak-Croat entities in Bosnia, held together by weak joint central institutions.

Bosnian Serbs, however, have sought to gain as much independence as possible. Dodik has openly called for secession from Bosnia, defying U.S. and British sanctions imposed over his policies.

On Monday, two U.S. fighter jets flew over Bosnia in a demonstration of support for the Balkan country’s territorial integrity.

In Brussels, European Commission spokesman Peter Stano insisted on the “need to respect the sovereignty, territorial integrity, constitutional order, including decisions by the Constitutional Court, by all actors in Bosnia-Herzegovina.” He warned of “serious consequences” for any action against those principles.

Dodik on Tuesday also handed out official awards, including one for Hungary's right-wing Prime Minister Viktor Orban. Orban did not attend, but Dodik said he will receive the medal at a meeting next month, Klix news portal reported.

The award, Dodik said, is a sign of “gratitude to the man who is ready to acknowledge us (Bosnian Serbs) as a real political fact.” Last year, Dodik gave a similar award to Putin.

Western countries fear that Russia could try to stir up trouble in the Balkans to avert attention from the full-scale invasion of Ukraine launched by Moscow nearly two years ago.

Serbia's populist leader Aleksandar Vucic congratulated Dodik on the holiday, pledging support for Bosnia's territorial integrity but also complaining of alleged efforts to “wipe out the existence of Republika Srpska."

Serbia, Vucic said, will “strongly resist any annulment or humiliation of Republika Srpska.”

Vucic is a former ultranationalist who supported the aggression against non-Serbs in the former Yugoslavia during the 1990s. He now says he is pro-European, but Dodik remains a close ally and the two meet on a regular basis.

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe last week warned that the designation of Jan. 9 as Republika Srpska's national holiday amounted to an “act of discrimination” and was unconstitutional.

Bosnia is seeking entry into the European Union, but the effort has been stalled because of slow reform and inner divisions.