2 hours agoLavrov backs Dodik, blames West for Bosnia's crisis
Periskopi(9 months ago)
(9 months ago)Russia's Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, and former Republika Srpska President Milorad Dodik reiterated previous positions that the <x0 complex relations in Bosnia and Herzegovina are the result of the major Western intervention in its domestic affairs”. Lavrov welcomed Dodik to Moscow on Tuesday. Speaking at a press conference, [...]
Lavrov welcomed Dodik to Moscow on Tuesday.
Speaking at a press conference, Lavrov reiterated his criticism of the international community's high representative in Bosnia, Christian Schmidt, saying he has no mandate “from the UN Security Council and that “is trying to impose decisions and laws by the command of the West”.
“We strongly condemn efforts to remove from power Serbian leaders who are undesirable for the West, and especially our co-director today, our friend, the legally elected president of Republika Srpska, through fabricated criminal cases”, Lavrov said.
Dodik was denied his mandate as president of the Bosnian Serb entity by the Bosnian Central Election Commission, after the Bosnian Court of Appeals held his sentence from February to one year in prison and banned the exercise of office for six years.
He was convicted of disrespecting the international community's high representative's decisions in Bosnia.
Lavrov announced that Russia will assume the presidency of the UN Security Council in October this year and that a session of the situation in Bosnia will be held on October 31st, “when our colleagues at the Council will have to answer very unpleasant questions about Bosnia”.
Dodik said that “Bosnja has never made a decision to impose sanctions on the Russian Federation, because Republika Srpska prevented this through its representatives”.
Dodik devoted most of his speech to Schmidt media.
The high representatives have fired over 900 elected representatives in Bosnia, two-thirds of which are from Republika Srpska. Republika Srpska has remained committed to the Dayton Agreement's Circular, while the West has used the so-called spirit of the agreement. For years we have had a unnamed stranger named Schmidt, through whom they impose decisions”, Dodik said.
Dodik, among other things, said he has no bad Russian influence in Bosnia.
Dodik recently announced in an interview with the Russian newspaper “Sputnik” will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in October.
As Dodik said at the time, he will ask Russia to use veto to extend the European Union's peacekeeping mission in Bosnia, EUFOR Althea, for which the UN Security Council votes every November.
Bosnia's Foreign Ministry on Friday sent signs to Hungary after its Foreign Minister, Peter Szijjarto, named Dodik as president of Republika Srpska during a meeting in Budapest.
