Russia cannot impose its vision of Bosnia's future, because Bosnian residents must agree on the kind of future they want for their country, Russian Ambassador Igor Kalabuhov told N1 Friday, adding that Russia sees Bosnia as a sovereign and prosperous country, but that its vision of unity depends on the BiH residents' vision.
In the very beginning of his interview with N1, the Russian Ambassador quoted Bosnia's Grand Mufti who said, during the Eid sermon, that “'Dialogue is the path to an agreement, while strife and mistrust to destruction’, which is very wise and in the spirit of the time.”
Commenting on Bosnia’s progress from the signing of the Dayton Peace Agreement which stopped the 1992-1995 war in Bosnia to date, he said he “would not say the country is stagnating but that he does see some who believe it is.”
“The situation is developing but the question is in which direction. When I speak to politicians and regular people from BiH which I’ve known for a long time, I see that everyone’s got their own vision. Everyone has their own opinion on how Bosnia should have looked like 25 years after the Dayton Peace Agreement,” he said.
When asked how he sees it, he said he “couldn’t comment on this, but that he sees it as a sovereign, prosperous country, able to decide for itself.”
Asked to clarify if that also means united, he said “as united as its residents see it.”
“As the guarantor of the Dayton Agreement, Russia must observe its implementation, if the international community does not play by the rules, then we must balance it out. There are incorrect citations of the Dayton Agreement in the communiqués (Peace Implementation Council, op. Cit.),” said Kalabukhov.
Office of the High Representative and the rule of law
When asked if the international community’s envoy, (High Representative) in charge of overseeing the civilian implementation of the Dayton Agreement, can act without the PIC approval, the Ambassador said “absolutely.”
“In fact, I believe he can act by himself but we must reach an agreement within the PIC’s Steering Board,” Igor Kalabuhov noted.
“Our principled position is that the OHR must be closed and they (the PIC) don’t have to talk about the new High Representative in BiH. We will not support the appointment of Mr Christian Schmidt (the German candidate for the position),” Kalabukhov said.
Asked if that means the incumbent Valentin Inzko could unpack his suitcases, he said: “It depends on him, but our position is that the OHR must be closed.”
Asked if they were advocating the closure of the OHR to boost the Russian influence in BiH, he said they “have their interests”.
Speaking about Bosnian Serb Presidency member Milorad Dodik’s statements of the “peaceful dissolution” of BiH, the Ambassador said that this was just one of the views of Bosnia, like the one of a civic state.
“If we say that Bosnia is a country with the rule of law, then every man bothered by what (Milorad) Dodik is saying, can solve their problems in court,” he noted.
Bosnia’s NATO accession
“We reacted to the wave of publications in the BiH media regarding the advantages of NATO. We wanted to show the ‘dark side of the Moon’ in the stories about NATO integration. Our position on this issue is such that it depends on the sovereign choice of each country. If a country chooses to prioritise integration, then it is her choice,” he said, adding that “the European integration of BiH – we think that it does not necessarily mean that it has nothing to do with the Russian Federation. Listening to the statements from Brussels that the Balkans is the EU’s geopolitical zone and that no one else can act there – that is unacceptable for us because we, as a country, also have interests [there]. If you think that NATO defends its member states, then that is not the case. This is a matter of an agreement within BiH,” Kalabukhov concluded.
Kakvo je tvoje mišljenje o ovome?
Budi prvi koji će ostaviti komentar!