Bosnian Serb ministers in the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) could block the work of that body if Republika Srpska (RS), Bosnia's Serb-majority entity, is not given the go-ahead by the end of the week to build a new pipeline to transport gas from Russia, the Foreign Trade Ministry reported on Monday.

This ministry is led for the second term by Stasa Kosarac from the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD), headed by Milorad Dodik. In a special statement delivered to the media, he said that he expects the Council of Ministers to approve the construction of the East Interconnection gas pipeline in the session on Thursday, because he considers it to be the most important issue.

“If the East Gas Interconnection is not included in the agenda of the Council of Ministers by Thursday, my opinion is that the session should not be held at all,” said Kosarac, adding that the state government should not decide on any other issue until this is resolved.

Since the 1980s BiH has been acquiring all its natural gas from Russia and the only gas pipeline it has is connected to Serbia's gas network.

This has become a problem and come to the fore during the energy crisis caused by Russia's aggression against Ukraine as BiH is completely dependent on Russian gas and has been unable to replace it with gas from other markets.

In 2015, Milorad Dodik rejected the proposal from BH Gas, the country's main gas supplier, to connect Bosnia and Herzegovina to the gas network of Croatia via Slavonski Brod-Bosanski Brod, which was supposed to ensure the gasification of the northwestern parts of the country and the diversification of supply sources. This project was ready to be financially supported by the EU, which allocated one million euros in grants for the creation of a feasibility study.

Dodik then asserted that the EU's goal was to make the region “dependent on gas from European sources,” and that he wants the RS to get gas only from Russia.

Therefore, the urgent construction of an alternative route was selected, the so-called South Interconnection, connecting BiH via Mostar to the gas network of Croatia near Zagvozd, which would enable access to the LNG terminal on Krk island. However, the RS entity blocked that project until the construction of another gas pipeline to Serbia is approved and said that the project would be financed by the Russian state-owned company Gazprom.

Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic and BiH Council of Ministers Chairperson Borjana Kristo confirmed during their meeting in Zagreb last week that the South Interconnection remains a project of strategic importance for both countries and announced that work on its implementation will be accelerated.

Minister Kosarac has now announced that he will block all energy projects that would be carried out on the territory of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosniak-Croat shared entity which makes another half of the country, until the request from the RS for another gas pipeline to Serbia is approved.

“That is a project that will increase the security of natural gas supply to consumers and ensure long-term energy stability in the RS,” Košarac asserted.