As well as chanting the name of the former Bosnian Serb military chief, who is serving a life sentence for genocide and other wartime crimes, the Delije ultras held up pictures of Mladic’s military cap and sang a tribute song called ‘Generale, Nek’ Je Tvojoj Majci Hvala’ – ‘General, Your Mother Deserves Tanks’.

The Day of Republika Srpska marks the anniversary of the establishment in 1992 of the Serb-dominated entity just before the Bosnian war broke out. Its political leader at the time, Radovan Karadzic, has also been convicted of genocide.

Republika Srpska’s current leadership is strongly nationalistic, has repeatedly threatened to secede from Bosnia and Herzegovina, and has close links to Vladimir Putin’s regime in Moscow. On January 9, social media accounts run by right-wing and pro-Russian organisations were flooded with congratulatory messages.

An organisation called Hrabro za Kosmet (Courageously for Kosovo and Metohija) posted several photos and videos from the Day of Republika Srpska celebrations on its Telegram channel. In one of the photos, which the organisation said was taken in Bijeljina, several people are gathered around a flag showing Mladic’s face with the word “Hero” written below it.

Hrabro za Kosmet has been collecting aid as a humanitarian organisation for Kosovo Serbs for years. It was also one of the participants in a gathering of right-wing organisations at the Jarinje border crossing between Serbia and Kosovo at the end of 2022, when the protesters attempted to cross over into Kosovo, which they do not recognise as an independent state.

A right-wing organisation called Zentropa Srbija – the Belgrade branch of an international forum of extremist movements – also hailed the Day of Republika Srpska with a militaristic message.

“The borders of Republika Srpska were drawn with blood, so they will be defended with blood,” Zentropa Srbija said in a statement. It also declared that Republika Srpska is an “indestructible bastion of Serbia” and “the basis for the final freedom of the Serbian lands”. Serb ultranationalists still dream of uniting Serbia and Republika Srpska to create a ‘Greater Serbia’, the cause they fought for during the Bosnian war.

Meanwhile in the Bosnian town of Gacko, a group called Cetnicka Omladina Gacko (Chetnik Youth Gacko) held their own celebration with fireworks and flew the flag of the now-defunct Bosnian Serb Army, which fought in the 1992-95 war under Mladic’s leadership. Chetnik Youth Gacko has previously expressed support for World War II-era Serb nationalist Chetnik leaders, as well as Bosnian Serb officers convicted of genocide and war crimes and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Some Bosniaks who have returned to live in Republika Srpska in the post-war period after fleeing because of the conflict said they felt disturbed and fearful because of the Serb nationalist manifestations held on January 9.

But Republika Srpska’s Interior Ministry told BIRN that the central celebration in Banja Luka passed off without any problems, while only minor incidents were recorded in other locations.

But Kenan Hodzic, a senior assistant at Faculty of Criminal Justice, Criminology and Security Studies at Sarajevo, believes that the nationalist celebrations have a negative effect on inter-ethnic relations in Bosnia and Herzegovina, where divisions have persisted since the war.

“The orchestrated strategic support of extremist organisations [for the Day of Republika Srpska] is problematic due to the way it is done and the rhetoric, which has a direct impact on the local environment,” said Hodzic.

Serbian ‘patriots’ and Russian bikers

Events were also held by groups outside the country to mark the Day of Republika Srpska, which is celebreated annually by the Bosnian Serbs in defiance of a ban by Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Constitutional Court, which ruled that the holiday is ethnically exclusive.

In Zrenjanin in northern Serbia, a right-wing organisation called Narodna Patrola (People’s Patrol) posted a video of their celebration online with the message: “Petrovgrad for the brothers across the [River] Drina.” Petrovgrad was Zrenjanin’s name from 1935 to 1946.

Narodna Patrola is also pro-Russian and has said it supports “the fight against the Nazi and pro-Western government in Kyiv” – a Kremlin-style description of Russia’s invasion of its neighbour.

The Day of Republika Srpska was also supported by pro-Kremlin media. Russian state-funded outlet Sputnik published a video with a congratulatory message, which said that the banned holiday “cannot be stopped by American fighter jets, nor by [German Chancellor Olaf] Scholtz, nor by people like [Christian] Schmidt [the international official responsible for overseeing the implementation of the peace deal that ended the Bosnian war], let alone by little leaders from [the Bosnian central government in] Sarajevo”.

Serbski Vestnik (Serbian Herald), a pro-Russian channel on Telegram, marked January 9 by publishing archive photos of Bosnian Serb Army soldiers and Ratko Mladic.

A celebration was also organized in Novorossiysk, a city in southern Russia. Aleksandr Zaldostanov, known as ‘The Surgeon’, the leader of the Night Wolves biker group and a strong supporter of Putin, posted a video of the event on social media.

Apti Alaudinov, the commander of the Russian Army’s Akhmat special unit, also attended the gathering. Alaudinov was declared a hero of the Russian Federation and the self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic for his services during the invasion of Ukraine. He leads Chechen strongman Ramzan Kadyrov’s forces in Ukraine, which have been accused of war crimes, human rights abuses and rape.

Lejla Ramic-Mesihovic, a professor of international relations at Burch University in Sarajevo, noted how Putin spoke about Bosnia at his annual press conference in December and said she believes that the Russian leader wants to increase links with Republika Srpska.

“The biggest effect of the cooperation is to defy the West,” Ramic-Mesihovic said.

She added that the announcement that Russian state television channel RT will establish a presence in Bosnia is also significant, as well as the Russian ambassador to Sarajevo’s attendance at the Day of Republika Srpska parade in Banja Luka on January 9.

“If a Russian at the ambassadorial level attends the commemoration, it is also a signal from the entire Russian Federation,” she said.