Russia is one of the guarantors of the Dayton Peace Accords but it advocates the "removal" of the Office of the High Representative, said Speaker of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of Russia, Valentina Matviyenko on Monday addressing the members of Bosnia's state Parliament.

Matviyenko arrived for a two-day official visit to Bosnia, where she is scheduled to meet with senior state officials.

Speaking before the parliament, she said that her country is focusing on constructive contents and is interested in expanding the cooperation with Bosnia's entities and the country as a whole.

According to her, the presence of the High Representative humiliates the peoples of Bosnia, who are supposed to manage the future of their country alone.

She finds it unacceptable that other countries of Europe are setting a choice between the EU and Russia.

“Such dictation is unacceptable. Countries should decide alone with whom they are going to cooperate. Bosnia established diplomatic relations with more than 150 countries of the world,” said Matviyenko, expressing support to the enhancement of its sovereignty and bilateral relations.

“Bosnia can always count on Russia,” she stressed, concluding that Russia never imposed nor it supported interference with internal relations of sovereign countries.

Russia was among witnesses of the signing of the Dayton Peace Accords, a peace agreement between the former Yugoslavia, Bosnia and Croatia, which ended the 1990s conflict in that region. The agreement divided the country into two semi-autonomous entities and established the Office of High Representative to oversee the civilian implementation of the agreement.