Foreign Minister Elemedin Konakovic said on Tuesday that Bosnia and Herzegovina must constantly be on guard due to Russia's malignant influence and he called for a thorough check of intelligence from Moldova on pro-Russian activists being trained in BiH and Serbia.

The Moldovan interior ministry said last week, ahead of the country's presidential polls and EU membership constitutional referendum, that the police had conducted raids and arrested men suspected of having been trained in Russia as well as in Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina's Serb entity to cause violence in and destabilise Moldova.

This Sunday, the referendum on Moldova's EU membership bid passed by an extremely slim margin, with the difference between “yes” and “no” votes counted in hundreds. The OSCE's international election observation mission stated in its preliminary conclusions that there were various forms of manipulative interference to destabilise the country, such as illicit financing of political actors, disinformation campaigns, and cyberattacks.

Incumbent President Maia Sandu, a staunch advocate of Moldova's journey to the European Union, and Alexander Stoianoglu, a pro-Russian politician, will vie in the presidential runoff on 3 November.

Media outlets and President Sandu have reported that criminal groups had bought Moldovan citizens’ votes prior to the EU referendum on Sunday.

“In any democracy, it's normal to have people who have different views. What's not normal is to have a situation where criminal groups are bribing voters,” she was quoted as saying.

The European Commission also said it had witnessed “unprecedented interference” by Russia in Moldova.

Concerning the Moldovan ministry's statement about the training of pro-Russian activists in BiH, there were different reactions from politicians in BiH.

Local media outlets recall that last year BiH Defence Minister Zukan Helez asserted that there was intelligence on illegal training camps for paramilitaries near the town of Rogatica and on Mount Maglic, eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as near Sarajevo. The minister also gave an official statement to prosecutorial authorities, but they seemed unresponsive.

On the other hand, BiH Security Minister Nenad Nesic, who is close to Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik who openly supports Russia's policy, claimed that there were no such camps in the Serb entity.

The head of the Parliamentary Commission for the Supervision of the Intelligence and Security Agency (OSA), Ilija Cvitanovic (HDZ 1990), has confirmed to local media that he had asked OSA head Almir Dzuvo to provide information on the case.

There has been no confirmation of the information on training camps, however, OSA says that two months ago, some foreign nationals who arrived in Bosnia and Herzegovina from the East could be connected with attempts to organise groups for sabotage at public rallies.

Konakovic said today that he would insist on making the entire case clear, and expressed his belief that in BiH there are people who are “involved in specific tasks” connected with Russia's influence.