The Bosniak member of Bosnia and Herzegovina's tripartite presidency, Sefik Dzaferovic, said on Friday that connecting the refinery in Bosanski Brod to Croatia's gas network was a violation of BiH's territorial integrity and that the project was never agreed to between the two countries.

“If pipes are placed across the border, that constitutes a violation of BiH's territorial integrity. This is a very serious issue for the border police, State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA) and BiH's state attorney,” Dzaferovic said in Banja Luka during an official visit.

He said that anyone who is responsible for that act has to answer for it because the gas pipeline was placed without the approval of the BiH Presidency, the Council of Ministers or the country's parliament.

“That is anarchy and abuse and someone will have to answer for it, someone from BiH and from elsewhere,” he said.

A gas pipeline was placed under the Sava River on Thursday evening connecting the refinery in Bosanski Brod to Croatia's gas network.

The project was agreed in 2017 with the mediation of Croatia's then-president Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic and Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, and in coordination with the authorities of the Bosnian entity called Republika Srpska (RS).

Russia's Zarubezhneft oil company is the owner of the Bosnian refinery and the objective was to have the refinery run on natural gas for production processes rather than on liquid fuel so as to help reduce air pollution which has been a problem for the two cities on either side of the Sava River, Bosanski Brod and Slavonski Brod.

The decision to connect only the refinery to the gas network is a result of the fact that RS authorities have been rejecting for years the idea of Bosnia and Herzegovina connecting to Croatia's gas network at Slavonski Brod.

The incumbent Serb member of BiH's Presidency, Milorad Dodik, has personally blocked that project, making it clear that he wants the Republika Srpska entity to be connected to Serbia's gas pipeline, which is supplied with Russian gas.

In an effort to resolve the problem of air pollution in Slavonski Brod, Croatia agreed to supply the refinery in Bosanski Brod with gas from its network because RS has still not started building a pipeline that would connect it to Serbia's gas network.

Bosnian Croat Presidency member also condemned the installation of the pipeline, calling it an act of aggression by Croatia.

“The secretive installation of gas pipelines across the Sava River without the knowledge of state institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, is obviously another act of aggression against our country, within a new type of joint venture between the domestic and foreign actors,” Zeljko Komsic said.

According to him, the BiH Foreign Ministry said they had no information on the installation, nor did they receive any document initiating the signing of a protocol or a memorandum on cooperation or an international agreement between the two sovereign countries, Bosnia and Croatia on a project like this.

Komsic claims that the BiH Border Police Director Zoran Galic must provide answers on how such a thing could have happened without their knowledge?

The Croat Presidency member also expects the Security Ministry to contact Bosnia’s Border Police immediately and do everything to prevent and stop “the illegal construction of a gas pipeline.”