Serbia, Russia are sparking deliberate fears in Bosnia before elections

Sesesionist pressures in Republika Srpska, founded as one of the autonomous regions as part of the 1995 agreement to end Bosnia's war between Serbs, Bosniaks and Croats, is sparking international concern for a return to Balkan unrest.

The presidential and parliamentary elections will be held at federal and regional levels in October, and Bosnian Serb authorities have already launched the campaign, which some are seeing as a threat to balance, as well as post-war fragility, broadcast Koha.net.

Based on the 90th-year peace agreement aimed at keeping Bosnia intact, the country was divided into Serbian autonomous and Bosnian-Croat entities with a relatively weak Sarajevo-based presidency.

Dragan Mekrak, minister of National Security, accused Republika Srpska of promoting nationalist rhetoric and sponsoring military parades to intimidate opponents and influence voters before the elections.

Burak is part of the bloc of moderate Serbs in the coalition government in Sarajevo, but does not agree with Republika Srpska nationalists led by President Milorad Dodik.

“Policy (RS) is developing with inflammatory fear of intention; there is a growing sense of uncertainty. All of this is making the security situation more complex”, McCrac said during an interview for Reuters, Coha.net broadcasts.

Serbian, Russian paramilitaries

In January, a Serb group of the extreme right whose leaders were trained in Russia marched armed “to the teeth” during a parade in the Bosnian Serb regional capital, Banjaluk, and announced they would be registered as charity organisation there.

Mekik has also said, calling to reliable sources, that Serbian youths have been trained militarily in camps in Russia.

Russian biker club, “Night Wolfves” (Nata Falls), against which the US has imposed sanctions for its role in the pro-Russian separatist rebellion in Ukraine, has warned a tour of Republika Srpska next week as part of an extension across the Balkans.

Mekrak says such groups are believed to be committed by RS authorities to help promote the intolerance of non-Serbs or moderate Serbs before the October elections.

“There are attempts to manipulate elections in various ways... recently through the organisation of special groups that exert some physical pressure on (some) citizens and thus feel at risk and do not go out to vote”, says Metik, broadcast Koha.net.

This is being practiced especially by Republika Srpska authorities... They are trying to form a pre-security facility under the cover of a patriotic organisation to use it in confrontations with”.

He said the “Night Wolf” is not the typical “klub of bikers, they carry powerful political messages with them... The authorities (of RS) want to grant them legitimacy and to use them in an election process”, Mektic said, citing reports that the “Ujks of Night” are planning to open offices in Banjaluke to monitor the elections.

Mektic also said that a recent purchase of 2,500 machine guns by RS police is legal, but is not proportional to the Bosnian-Croat Federation police.

“They need weapons, it's unequivocal, but the proportion is questioned. They may have unnecessary weapons that can be misused in various ways”.

Otherwise, on Monday, a senior American official who visited Kosovo said Russia is planning “a more and more destructive role in large parts of the Balkans to distribute dezinforms and to violate democratic institutions”.

US Assistant Secretary of State for Europe and Euro-Asi Wes Mitchell, who is on a Balkan tour, added: “We have been clear in our conversations with the Russians and it is not in their interest or in the people in this region”.

Western leaders have accused Russia, Serbia's major traditional ally, of trying to exploit the European Union's insufficient actions in the Balkans by manipulating political events. Russia denies such claims.