Bosnia and Herzegovina has joined the global initiative of the United States against the apprehension and deportation of persons on the territory of Ukraine under the control of the Russian Federation, at the invitation of Antony Blinken, the US Secretary of the State, Foreign Minister Bisera Turkovic has confirmed.

“We are joining the condemnation of the so-called filtration operation for the detention and forced deportation of Ukrainian civilians to Russia. The filtration process involves temporary detention, data collection, interrogation and, in some cases, abuse of detainees, and takes place in various temporary processing centres – often in parallel with the processing of internally displaced persons and refugees,” the minister said.

Turkovic also emphasised that the filtration plan has spread to hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian civilians sue to the unexpected resistance that Ukraine showed.

“Since the start of Russia's war in Ukraine, it is estimated that filtration operations have been identified in at least 18 possible locations in eastern Ukraine and western Russia,” said Turkovic, expressing strong objection against all violations of the international law, especially in segment of violation of human rights of the civilians on occupied territories.