The news that a military exercise using depleted uranium will be held in BiH was denied within 24 hours by all institutions mentioned in the article published on Dnevnik website.
Yesterday, Mostar-based website, Dnevnik, published news with a sensational headline:
Alliance for Change agrees: Soon, a large NATO exercise in Banja Luka: air squadron, depleted uranium and media preparation of Serbs in RS
The text states that a joint military exercise of the Armed Forces and NATO will be held near Banja Luka this year as well as the following year, agreed by the BiH Ministry of Defense, the Joint Staff of the BiH Armed Forces and the Office of Defense Cooperation of the US Embassy in BiH. The article further states, referring to a document bearing the name (but not the signature) of Marina Pendes, BiH Defense Minister:
The NATO exercise should be realized through two phases: the first is the theoretical training of AF BiH officers from February till the end of 2018, and the second, in early 2019, is the shooting of a squadron of A10 aircraft at Manjaca. The participants in the exercise would be NATO soldiers, 400 of them located in the Kozara barracks in Banja Luka. That includes a squadron of 10 planes (both American and Lithuanian), located at the Mahovljani airport in Republika Srpska. The A-10 contains a 30 mm “Volcano” cannon with ammunition, i.e., some kind of depleted uranium.
Depleted uranium – which in the text became “a kind of depleted uranium” – soon became breaking news on several other websites. RTRS also mentioned it in the headline: “Soon, NATO exercise with depleted uranium?”. It was then taken over by Sputnik – which introduced Dnevnik as Banja Luka’s website:
Soon in Banja Luka, NATO will drill with depleted uranium
The BiH Ministry of Defense, the Joint Staff of the BiH Armed Forces and the Office of Defense Cooperation of the US Embassy should soon organize a NATO exercise with an air squadron and depleted uranium in Banja Luka, according to official documents of the BiH Ministry of Defense.Â
Dnevnik’s text also states that these activities were agreed upon at an earlier meeting attended by “Serbian generals from the BiH Armed Forces, Mirko Tepsic, Dragan Vukovic, Boris Jerinic, BiH Deputy Defense Minister, and Zoran Djeric, an adviser to the Serb member of the Presidency of BiH, Mladen Ivanic”.
Regarding these allegations, we contacted the US Embassy in BiH, and from their Public Relations Office, we received the following response:
None of the activities under this exercise would involve the use of depleted uranium or combat ammunition. During exercises of this type, ammunition that has been modified for training purposes and that is not harmful to the environment is used.
The response previously stated that the Office for Defense Cooperation within the Embassy “is currently cooperating with the BiH Ministry of Defense to agree on the details of a bilateral exercise between the Maryland National Guard and the BiH Armed Forces (AF BiH) to be held in May 2019”, and emphasizing that the cooperation between the Maryland National Guard and the BiH Armed Forces has lasted for sixteen years. The Public Relations Office further stated that for all additional information on the military cooperation program in BiH, one should contact the Ministry of Defense of BiH.
However, by that time, the Ministry of Defense of Bosnia and Herzegovina had already issued a statement in which it completely denied the allegations made by Dnevnik:
Regarding the information shared on a website Dnevnik.ba, dating from February 20, 2018, and regarding the alleged organization of a NATO exercise with an air squadron and depleted uranium at Manjaca test site, which was also reported by other print and electronic media, and having in mind very tendentious writing and presenting absolutely incorrect information, we hereby publish a denial of intent The Ministry of Defense and the Armed Forces of BiH to organize a NATO exercise with an air squadron.
The Ministry of Defense of Bosnia and Herzegovina has successful bilateral defense cooperation with many countries in and outside Europe, including the United States. As part of bilateral cooperation with the United States, among other activities, the implementation of air-to-ground integration exercises – Air to Ground Integration during 2019 – is also being considered.
The eventual organization of the exercise in question is in the initial phase of adjustment. The scenario, the participants, or the means by which the exercise would be performed have not been determined yet.
On this occasion, we emphasize that for all military exercises organized in BiH, which include the participation of international entities, the BiH Ministry of Defense previously obtained the approval of the BiH Presidency and coordinated operational preparations and implementation with all other institutions in BiH. Also, for a specific exercise, if the intention to organize it is determined, the Ministry of Defense of BiH will seek the approval of the Presidency of BiH.
In other words, in order for the exercise to be held at all, the decision must be made by the Presidency of BiH, which once a year, at the proposal of the Ministry of Defense, adopts the Plan of International Military Exercises. Mladen Ivanic, a member of the Presidency of BiH, wrote in an open letter to Milorad Dodik, the President of RS, who asked for a statement from the Presidency of BiH on this topic:
The Presidency has neither considered nor adopted the Plan of International Military Exercises for 2019, so that the NATO exercise at Manjaca, in May 2019, cannot be held without the adoption of the plan.
The refutation of the news soon arrived from the NATO headquarters in Sarajevo, whose comment was requested by Vijesti.ba website: “NATO Headquarters has no information about the NATO exercise, which should be held in the near future in the area of Banja Luka or at some other location in BiH”.
Thus, Dnevnik’s allegations, based on a document of undetermined origin and authenticity, were refuted from all four sources relevant to the allegations, that is, from all entities mentioned in this article. Therefore, the original article is rated as fake news, while the others get the rate for distributing fake news.
Note 24.12.2020.
After publishing our analysis, the website Kurir published a correction in the article, which is why it received a rate corrected.
(Author: Tijana Cvjetićanin, Raskrinkavanje.ba)
