Russia's Ambassador to Bosnia, Igor Kalabukhov, stated that the position of his country is that the time has come for the Office of the High Representative (OHR) in Bosnia to close down "so that the peoples of BiH can decide on their destiny on their own," arguing that he is defending the position of international law and the 1995 Dayton Peace Agreement.
“Russia wants to play a properly balanced role. If the rights of Bosniaks are violated, we will defend their rights, if the rights of the Croat people in BiH are violated, we will defend their rights, and we will also defend the rights of the Serb people in BiH,” Kalabukhov told reporters in Banja Luka.
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The High Representative is the official appointed by the international community who is tasked with overseeing the civilian implementation of the Dayton Peace Agreement, which also contains Bosnia’s Constitution.
However, according to the ambassador, the OHR has become an obstacle to mutual agreement in BiH.
Kalabukhov also spoke about a controversial non-paper that caused an uproar in the region after it was published by Slovenian media as it proposes redrawing borders in the Western Balkans and annexing parts of Bosnia to its neighbouring countries.
He criticised the fact that “some foreign factors always think on behalf of the people living in the Balkans, write some papers, proposals (…).”
“I want to say decisively that the Russian Federation respects the foreign policy priorities of BiH and does not want to interfere in those matters, especially when it comes to EU integration. We don’t want the priority of BiH's integration into the EU to be an obstacle to the development of relations between the Russian Federation and BiH,” he said.
BiH must have opportunities and develop relations with the Russian Federation and all other international partners that are important for the country, he said, adding that BiH's path to the EU is a matter of its constituent peoples and the European Commission.
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