Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Presidency Chairman, Sefik Dzaferovic, addressed the opening ceremony of the 7th Delphi Economic Forum in Greece Wednesday where he stressed that this is a special historical moment and that global movements in recent years have resulted in an entirely new reality that is drastically different from the world everyone knew after the end of World War II, especially after the fall of the Berlin Wall.

He noted that the state of geopolitical change, which began over the past decade, has escalated with the Russian aggression against Ukraine. This event de facto moved the limits of geopolitical imagination on European soil from the 21st century. What seemed unthinkable became a reality.

Dzaferovic pointed out that there was direct military aggression on the scene against a sovereign and independent state, a member of the United Nations.

“Civilians in Ukraine are victims of atrocities. The horror scenes in Mariupol and the latest scenes of the Buca massacre are troubling the conscience of humanity, as was the case with the siege of Sarajevo in the 1990s and the massacre of civilians in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which we thought would never happen again, at least not on European soil,” Dzaferovic noted.

According to him, the issue of Russian aggression against Ukraine is not just a geopolitical issue. It is primarily a human issue. It is a question of the struggle of Ukrainians for bare lives and survival.

The BiH Presidency Chairman pointed out that the economic consequences of the war were already devastating. The trends are relentless, he said. As a large producer and a significant market, Ukraine was an important link in the chain of the European economy, Dzaferovic pointed out and added that Russia too has diminished its capacity to be a reliable partner, despite being a large market and an energy supplier.

Dzaferovic said that Bosnia and Herzegovina joined the international community in condemning Russian aggression but “pro-Russian political forces in BiH are currently blocking BiH from implementing identical sanctions, which were imposed on the Russian Federation by the European Union.”

“Although it is our obligation, based on the Stabilization and Association Agreement, to join these sanctions, it is evident that Russian influence is so strong that it prevents this,” said the Chairman of the BiH Presidency.

That is why, he believes, it is extremely important to keep the continuous focus of the entire international public, and primarily NATO and the European Union, on the processes within BiH. Because these processes are important not only for BiH but also for the overall European security and stability.

In his opinion, the biggest risk for the members of the European Union, in terms of security and new social problems, would be to leave the Western Balkans to third actors, who could destabilize the European Union itself through Western Balkans.