Foreign Minister of Bosnia and Herzegovina Igor Crnadak stated yesterday that the visit of the South Ossetian delegation to Banja Luka has damaged the international position of the Republika Srpska and has devalued its importance and international status.

Crnadak said welcoming Bibilov put the Republika Srpska, which is recognized as a full-fledged constituent entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina by the international community, on the same plate with South Ossetia - a region of “questionable international status and importance.”

“We are doing all we can to support the international activities of the Republika Srpska and consider that it should have as many high quality activities of this sort as possible. But what they have done with South Ossetia has harmed them immensely on the international arena,” Crnadak told the journalists in Banja Luka, administrative capital of the Republika Srpska.

He confirmed that Georgia has sent a diplomatic note concerning the incident, which the country’s Foreign Ministry responded to, and added that he hopes no lasting harm would come to the relations between Georgia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Anatoly Bibilov was on a three-day visit to the Republika Srpska, where he held a meeting with Republika Srpska President Milorad Dodik and took part in the disputed Day of the Republic celebrations on January 9. The two held a meeting last year as well, on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum on June 1.