An immediate and unconditional closure of the office of the high representative is the first step towards normalization in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on the 30th anniversary of the Dayton Peace Agreement signing. “The mere existence of such a colonial instrument in a sovereign UN member state in the 21st century is unthinkable. The time has long come for the peoples of BiH to gain true sovereignty and independence, to determine their own future, the fate of their state. Westerners are doing their best to counteract the abolition of external governance.“
That’s rich coming from Lavrov, the FM of the last colonial empire on Earth, that is currently prosecuting a genocidal war against Ukraine. But this didn’t come out of the blue.
The leader of the Bosnian Serbs, Milorad Dodik, who the Central Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina deprived of the mandate of president, announced recently a series of visits to Russia during which he plans to secure support for achieving the independence of the Republika Srpska and for ending the mandate of the European military presence in BiH. In a recent interview with Russian media, Dodik stated that he wants to put an end to the activities of the European Union military mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina, EUFOR Althea. For this purpose, the leader of the Bosnian Serbs will turn to Moscow for help. “I will ask our Russian friends to revoke consent and to veto at the Security Council concerning the European international forces,” he said.
“To remove them (EUFOR Althea and the High Representative) — we must be a separate state,” says the leader of the Bosnian Serbs. “To get rid of all this (EUFOR Althea and the High Representative), we must demand the withdrawal of occupying troops and the removal of foreigners from decision-making. This is not possible at the level of Bosnia and Herzegovina, so the Republika Srpska must proclaim independence and create a mechanism of governance fully independent of Sarajevo, of Bosnians and of foreigners living there.”
Even out of the office, Dodik still holds sway over Republika Srpska after a member of his party, Siniša Karan, was elected as the new president after snap elections. The voting was, as usual, marked with columns of cars and buses driving “reserve” voters from Serbia to voting stations in Republika Srpska, just across the Drina River, so they could aid in the victory of the “appropriate” candidate. The voting day was also marked by snowstorms, electric power outages, and internet connection outages in Bosnia. Isn’t that grand – they keep campaigning about the “Serbian national issue”, but maintaining a running civilization of the 21st century is not Republika Srpska’s primary concern.
It is a regular occurrence whenever elections are being held in Serbia or the neighbouring countries that have a Serbian ethnic population living there. Kosovo Serbs, Bosnian Serbs, Montenegrin Serbs, and Croatian Serbs cross the state lines and vote in droves in Serbian elections. The ones living in Serbia return the favor and take the Serbian World to the ballots in Kosovo, Montenegro, and especially Bosnia and its autonomous entity, Republika Srpska.
Northern Macedonia is also in the mix. The rhetoric about the “fake nation of Macedonia” has been amplified in Serbia in recent years, less in the media, more so by the vox populi.
Ethnic Serbs from neighbouring countries often wholeheartedly participate in Serbian protests, like this woman, a Bosnian national who was non-fatally shot in self-defense by a police officer when she came to a police station in Belgrade demanding that the police remove the Stoogeville (Ćacilend) tent camp. In return, Serbian protesters wholeheartedly support their brothers in neighbouring countries. Such was the case in Montenegro during the religious processions held in protest against Montenegro’s 2019 “Law on Freedom of Religion or Belief”, with far-right gatherings spilling over to Serbia. It’s like a mutation between Eurovision and Anschluss, with a lot of giant crosses being waved around.
In unison with his allies in the Kremlin, Dodik continues to shape the infospace for ousting the international oversight keeping the peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
But Marta Kos, European Commissioner for Enlargement and EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas have other ideas. In a joint statement, they said that “The Dayton Peace Accords brought an end to one of Europe’s darkest chapters and secured a peace that endures to this day. Staying the course towards EU membership, as a united, sovereign country in a stable and secure region, must remain the ultimate goal. All political leaders should focus on the reforms needed to move forward. The EU stands ready to ensure peace and stability in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Our military operation, EUFOR Althea, remains indispensable for this.”
Don’t think that the European Union is powerless or that it won’t act on this. The recent decision to indefinitely freeze the Russian assets held in Europe shows that the EU can and will act against adversaries way more powerful than Milorad Dodik and the atavistic Serbian World.
Serbianism 