Bosnian Serbs to Seek Russia's Veto of U.N. Srebrenica Resolution

Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik said Wednesday he would ask Russia to use its veto to prevent the adoption of a U.N. resolution on the Srebrenica genocide which is being drafted by Britain.

"I will certainly demand (Russia use its right of veto) and explain that it is a hot issue for us (ethnic Serbs)," Dodik told Bosnian Serb RTRS television.

Dodik, the president of Republika Srpska, the entity which along with the Muslim-Croat Federation has made up Bosnia since its 1990s war, spoke before leaving for Russia where he will attend the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum from Thursday.

He said he expected to meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Thursday on the sidelines of the forum.

Britain has said it is drafting a U.N. Security Council resolution to mark the 20th anniversary of the Srebrenica massacre in July, and reflect on the U.N.'s failure to prevent genocide.

About 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys were slaughtered by ethnic Serb forces in July 1995 in what was the U.N.-protected enclave of Srebrenica.

It was Europe's worst atrocity since World War II and has been labeled genocide by two international courts.

"The exact content is still under discussion with partners, but we expect that it will commemorate the victims of the genocide at Srebrenica, and those who suffered on all sides in the war," a spokesperson at the British mission to the U.N. said on June 9.

Britain hopes the move "will encourage further steps towards reconciliation."

The draft resolution is expected to come up for a vote during the first week of July as Bosnia prepares to hold commemorations at the Srebrenica memorial on July 11.

Russia is one of the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, along with Britain, the United States, France and China.

Bosnian Serbs refuse to accept that the massacre was genocide.

Dodik said: "Everything is done to promote a non-truth, namely that there was a genocide there, while ignoring the Serb victims." 

He said 3,500 Serbs were killed in the Srebrenica region during the 1992-1995 war.

Dodik stressed he wold accept a resolution to "proclaim Srebrenica as a place of genocide against the Serbs and the Muslims."

Bosnia's 1992-1995 war between its Croats, Muslims and Serbs claimed some 100,000 lives.

Srebrenica is located in what is now Republika Srpska.