In his statement at a ceremony marking 25 years since the peace agreement that ended Bosnia’s 1992-95 war was signed, the Russian ambassador in Bosnia praised the agreement as a permanent solution for the country and stressed that Russia insists on its strict implementation.
While some speakers at the ceremony, including former US President, Bill Clinton, and Bosnia’s former international administrator, Christian Schwarz-Schilling, argued that the agreement should not be the final solution for Bosnia, Pyotr Ivantsov said that the the conclusion of the Dayton Peace Agreement and the subsequent period of political agreements, reconstruction and reconciliation “highlight the significant fact that people of this remarkable country can live in peace and build their future life together.”
RELATED NEWS
He argued that this demonstrates that, despite all difficulties, “there are no irreconcilable differences that can not be resolved through dialogue and mutual compromise.”
The Dayton Peace Agreement not only armed conflict, “but opened the way for long-term solutions that take into account the interests of all sides,” he said.
The ambassador argued that the Agreement “established peace and security in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the wider region” and laid the foundations for “stable political, economic and social development of Bosnia and Herzegovina as a sovereign and independent state.”
He said it “defined the modalities of internal organisation” in Bosnia – “the constitutional status of the two entities, the separation of powers of different levels of authority, guaranteed the equality of the three constituent peoples, and established the mechanisms for the implementation of their rights, including the mechanism for the protection of their vital interests.”
According to Ivantsov, it managed to accommodate Bosnia’s composition as a multi-ethnic and multi-confessional state and introduce “clear and coherent principles of its functioning.”
This structure remains the basis of Bosnia’s administrative organisation 25 years later “ensuring the necessary checks and balances which govern the interaction of different elements of authority,” he stressed.
“While by no means being simple, the Dayton state structure is absolutely workable and viable. The Dayton Peace Agreement remains the foundation for the continued successful existence of Bosnia and Herzegovina,” he said, noting that Russia witnessed the signing of the agreement and that today it remains “committed to its consistent implementation.”
“As one of the guarantors, we advocate strict observance of the principles of international law which form its core. Any eventual changes to the document can only be made on the basis of consensual agreement of the three constituent peoples and both entities,” he concluded.
