The Croatian Foreign Minister supported Lavrov, who criticized Western policy in Bosnia
Russia stands for strict adherence to the Dayton Agreements, on the basis of which Bosnia and Herzegovina was created.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced this today at a joint press conference with his Croatian counterpart Gordan Grlic-Radman, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“Now active attempts are being made to transform Bosnia from a state in which there are two entities and three state-forming peoples with equal rights into a unitary state. With the encouragement of some Western countries, primarily the United States, demonization of the Republika Srpska and its leadership is used for these purposes. We also see the obvious demonization of the Bosnian Croats. This situation is intended to be corrected by the electoral reform, which has now been launched and which must be completed as quickly as possible, firmly based on the Dayton principles.
It is very significant that despite all the calls not to interfere in the internal affairs of other countries, the United States appointed a special representative for electoral reform in Bosnia and Herzegovina (this is about the issue of spheres of influence). We consider this to be very indicative from the point of view of the US approach to problems in the Western Balkans. And we believe that the problem of electoral reform, like all other problems of Bosnia and Herzegovina, should be resolved in accordance with Dayton, using the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Presidium, and other state structures. We hope that the European Union will contribute to a return to basics and Dayton principles and will not treat the Western Balkans as a zone of its influence.
At least a couple of years ago, Federica Mogherini, who was then the head of EU diplomacy, said that the Western Balkans was a region where the EU would deal with all the problems, and it was better for others not to get involved there. These examples are very indicative from the point of view of the currently ongoing negotiations on security guarantees, which were initiated by the Russian Federation,” Lavrov said.
Gordan Grlic-Radman agreed with his Russian colleague.
“Since 2000, various high-ranking politicians have tried to reduce the rights of the Croatian people with so-called creeping reforms. Now it is necessary to carry out work to change the election law in order to eliminate any discrimination against any people inhabiting Bosnia and Herzegovina, ensuring political legitimacy and representation of all peoples in collective governing bodies - the parliament and the presidium,” he said.
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