President of Republika Srpska (entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina) Milorad Dodik stated this in an interview with TASS General Director Andrei Kondrashov.
“I think that if Putin had not appeared and if he had not started to rule society... then Russia would have broken up into five or six states,” he said.
They, according to Dodik, could be “easier to manipulate,” which would lead to “interethnic conflict.”
Dodik also said that the Serbs will always be on the side of Russia.
Earlier, he said that during negotiations with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, he wished him further victories.