Russia is in favour of respecting the basic provisions of the 1995 Dayton Peace Agreement which stopped the war in Bosnia, but is against the post of the country’s High Representative, saying his presence reminded of a protectorate, the Beta news agency reported on Friday.

The spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zaharova, said at a news conference that the role of the High Representative had exhausted its function a long time ago and that it had been only inhibited the country.

According to the Peace Agreement, the High Representative is Bosnia’s top international administrator, charged with the implementation of the civilian part of the agreement.

The Peace Implementation Council appoints him – a body put together from ambassadors of countries that have signed the agreement as guarantors. Russia is part of that Council.

Zaharova added that the responsibility for the situation in Bosnia should be transferred to the three ethnic groups there.

“Moscow believes that a successful functioning of Bosnia and Herzegovina is possible only with an efficient implementation of a balanced system of limits and counteractions, oriented towards a domestic search for solutions to all the problems, without any foreign intervention,” Zaharova said.

Moscow has been supportive of Republika Srpska, the Serb-dominated entity in Bosnia.

Throughout recent years, RS leadership repeatedly advocated for the entity to seceede from Bosnia so it can join Serbia.