The Russian ambassador in Sarajevo, Igor Kalabuhov, said Thursday, March 17, 2022, that Bosnia has the right to make a decision on joining NATO, but Moscow has the right to respond to this decision, according to its own interests.
"If Bosnia and Herzegovina decides to become a member of any federation, Russia will also react similar to what is happening in Ukraine," Kalabohov said, in statements to a program on the local "Federalna" channel in Bosnia .
For his part, the Bosnian member of the Presidential Council of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Şafik Dzaferovic, assessed Kalabahov's use of the Ukraine model in his speech as an "attack on the territorial integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina".
"Bosnia and Herzegovina is a sovereign country, where it makes its own decisions about its future within the framework of the constitution and laws, and works on the demands and interests of its citizens. We do not decide according to their interests, and Russia does not have the right to take responsibility for Bosnia's future," Dzaferovic said.
Dzaferovic also noted that the process of submitting Bosnia and Herzegovina to both the Euro-Atlantic track and NATO membership is decided by its own institutions.
The Croatian member of the Presidential Council of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Zeljko Komsic, considered the statements of the Russian ambassador, Kalabahov, as "unacceptable."
Komsic stated that Kalabauhov's letter citing the example of Ukraine has only one meaning for Bosnia and Herzegovina.
In a statement issued by the US Embassy in Bosnia and Herzegovina, "Kalabhof's recent threats are irresponsible and unacceptable, and third parties cannot decide arrangements between NATO and sovereign states."
The danger surrounding the Balkans
While the world's attention is focused on the battles in Ukraine, the escalation of separatist tensions in Bosnia and Herzegovina could plunge the country into another war or divide it into ethnic states with the increase in conflicts between Muslims, Serbs and Croats, amid fears of a Russian role inflaming the situation, in the direction of a Christian war against Muslims.
Officials and analysts have warned that the Russian invasion of Ukraine may extend its effects to the western Balkans, specifically to Bosnia and Herzegovina, a small country that has become an arena for competition between NATO and Moscow, especially since it is known that the Serbs are historically allies of Moscow, even as Russia entered the First World War because they were attacked Austro-Hungarian Empire.
The Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which suffered a devastating civil war that killed 100,000 people, mostly Muslims, consists of two entities: the Serbian-majority Republika Srpska and the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, inhabited mainly by Muslim Bosnians and Muslim Croats.
According to the last census from 2013, Muslim Bosniaks represent 50.11% of the country's population, Bosnian Serbs 30.78%, and Croats 15.43%.
But the security situation since February, after the deputies of the Serbian entity in Bosnia, known as Republika Srpska, voted to withdraw from the main state institutions, including the army, and create only Serbian bodies in its place, according to a report by the American magazine Forbes.
The move is widely seen as a major step toward secession of the entity that could pave the way for the country's disintegration.
Vladimir Putin has previously pledged to support Bosnian Serbs in their differences over power-sharing in Bosnia. Moscow also offered financial support to Republika Srpska, and the Russian embassy in Sarajevo said that Russia would respond if Bosnia took steps toward joining NATO; Because Moscow will consider it a hostile act.