There was no need for a Russian military medical team to disinfect a hospital in Mostar since Bosnia’s Armed Forces can do that job quicker and more efficiently, the Bosniak and Bosnian Croat members of the tripartite Presidency said on Sunday.
Bosnian authorities did not allow a Russian military-medical team, which was allegedly supposed to perform disinfection of the Mustar University Hospital, to enter Bosnia on Friday.
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“Their arrival has been postponed due to procedural issues. Based on positive experiences from the Banja Luka University Hospital where the Russian medical team performed disinfection 10 days ago, we requested that they do the same in Mostar,” said the spokesperson of the hospital, Adrijana Pandza.
House of People's Speaker Dragan Covic had requested the arrival of a 24-member medical team along with five specialised military vehicles used for disinfection and decontamination.
He did not, however, consult Bosnia’s tripartite Presidency, which is in charge of Bosnia's foreign policy and the only institution that can send and approve such a request.
Bosnia’s Security Minister, Fahrudin Radoncic, explained on Saturday why the Russian unit was allowed to come to Banja Luka but not to Mostar.
He said that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had approved the arrival of the Russian medical team in Banja Luka because it was treated as a humanitarian action since it was not clearly stated that those arriving are members of the military.
“The second request, namely the note of the Embassy of the Russian Federation in Bosnia and Herzegovina to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs regarding the entry of the same convoy and persons across the border, this time contained a much more detailed list of military-technical resources, names and surnames of the medical team, as well as their military ranks!” the Minister said, explaining that this means it could not be treated as a humanitarian action anymore.
In an interview with FENA on Sunday, the Bosniak member of the tripartite Presidency, Sefik Dzaferovic, argued that there is no need for the military of any other country to help disinfect any hospital since Bosnia's army has a unit trained for the job, adding that he is prepared to approve a request to deploy it at any time.
The Presidency could not decide on the arrival since the necessary procedures were not respected, he said, adding that “there is no stance on it from the Council of Ministers, nor from the competent ministries and other agencies which must be involved in this entire process.”
He thanked all countries who want to help but urged for all the necessary procedures for it to happen to be respected.
“Bosnia’s Defence Ministry and the competent ministries of other countries must first reach a bilateral agreement on cooperation, which is of course coordinated with EUFOR and approved by the Presidency,” he said.
The Bosnian Croat member of the tripartite Presidency, Zeljko Komsic, said on Sunday that every clinical centre across Bosnia and Herzegovina has the possibility to hire a company to disinfect its premises if it can not do so alone.
“I am certain that the clinical centres in Banja Luka and Mostar have previously engaged such companies which can do this job efficiently,” he said.
He added that even if this is not possible, such clinical centres should ask Bosnia’s Armed Forces for help and the army “can do that job even better than the Russian unit.”
“All of this, of course, raises the question what the true goal of the invitation and arrival of the Russian unit is in Bosnia and Herzegovina, specifically in Banja Luka and Mostar,” he said.
He argued that the presence of this Russian military unit in Bosnia was “completely unnecessary” and that it was invited out of “completely different reasons than those stated to the public.”
He said it represented “a so-called special, psychological activity,” and that the unit should not have come to Bosnia and “should not return here.”
