Banja Luka Mayor Draško Stanivuković (SSP) refused to stand next to the President of Republika Srpska Milorad Dodik (SNSD), as captured by cameras.
The footage shows Dodik and Željka Cvijanović (SNSD) waiting for Stanivuković to take a photo, but he does not appear. At one point, Dodik says, "We are calling him to come and take a photo, what's the issue?" while one of those present calls for him.
Stanivuković later explained his actions. First, he stated that everyone did their job as best they knew how, elaborating on the lengthy work on this bridge. "The proof is that from 2014 until I was elected, there was no conceptual solution here, not a single unit or dot on paper, let alone anything else," he said.
He explained that he was not invited to today's ceremony. According to him, it was not the first time that the City of Banja Luka was excluded from the entity's protocol. "I would say these are petty games unworthy of big players, and I do not want to play them," Stanivuković said, adding that Sinisa Karan did not attend today's ceremony, but rather Dodik as the party president.
He believes there is an attempt to turn Republika Srpska into a party creation of the SNSD.
On the other hand, explaining the delay in completing the bridge project earlier, Dodik stated that Republika Srpska was not able to reach everywhere and that everyone contributed as much as they could.