Russia at UN calls for OHR closure and release of war criminal Mladic: “He is at death’s door”

The remarks were delivered during the UN Security Council session on Bosnia and Herzegovina, held as High Representative Christian Schmidt presented his report on the implementation of the peace agreement.

Russia blames the West

The Russian representative said the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina “quite rightly remains a subject of close scrutiny” by the Security Council, primarily in the context of the implementation of the General Framework Agreement for Peace.

He claimed that “serious inter-ethnic friction continues to worsen” in the country and blamed what he called the “reckless, risky policy of Western countries.”

According to Moscow, Western countries are trying to undermine the Dayton-based structure of Bosnia and Herzegovina, including the equality of the three constituent peoples and the two entities.

“Particularly stark was the destructive interference in Bosnian affairs by Berlin, London, and the Brussels bureaucrats,” he said.

“Euro-Atlantic pseudo-values”

The Russian representative accused the West of using “blackmail and blatant threats” to impose agendas that, he said, run counter to Bosnia and Herzegovina’s interests.

“We see a blatant desire to at all costs preserve control of external governance of the sovereign state of Bosnia and Herzegovina,” he said.

He also claimed there were attempts to replace the Dayton framework endorsed by the Security Council with what he called “Euro-Atlantic pseudo-values” and a “civilian-unitarianist concept.”

Mladic “at death’s door”

One of the sharpest parts of the statement concerned Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karadzic, both convicted by international courts for war crimes.

Speaking about Mladic, the Russian representative said the former Bosnian Serb military commander was “languishing” in detention in The Hague.

“He is at death’s door,” the Russian representative said.

“We completely fail to understand why the Serb general cannot be granted early release for humanitarian reasons, or at the very least, why he cannot be transferred to Serbia to serve out the remainder of his sentence,” he added.

Russia called on the international mechanism to “finally take that decision,” saying it would “help to alleviate the immense suffering that he is enduring.”

“If Mr. Mladic’s condition continues to deteriorate, responsibility will lie squarely with the mechanism,” he said, adding that the mechanism had “long become atavistic” and should be closed “at the soonest.”

Karadzic and accusations against London

The Russian representative also raised the case of Radovan Karadzic, claiming that British authorities, “with the collusion of the mechanism,” had created “inhumane detention conditions” for him.

“Civic organizations have assessed this as amounting to physical and psychological terror by London,” he said.

He called on Security Council members to remember the cases of Mladic and Karadzic “especially when you hear Western colleagues wax poetic about humanism and the overriding need to respect human rights.”

OHR called “main source of instability”

Russia again rejected the legitimacy of the Office of the High Representative and Christian Schmidt.

“To date, the main source of instability in Bosnia and Herzegovina remains the Office of the High Representative,” the Russian representative said.

He claimed the OHR had transformed from an international mediator tasked with facilitating the civilian implementation of the peace agreement into “a cudgel of the West with virtually unfettered leeway to interfere in the domestic affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina.”

He also accused the OHR of “meting out legal violence against the sovereign country” and of stoking domestic political unrest.

Attack on Schmidt

Russia again described Schmidt’s appointment as “illegal,” saying it was carried out in breach of procedures and in circumvention of Security Council resolutions.

The Russian representative accused Schmidt of trying to “hypocritically shift responsibility” for the consequences of his actions onto Republika Srpska.

He also said Schmidt was trying to blame Serbs and their leaders for “all deadly sins.”

Russia demands immediate closure of OHR

“We demand that Western countries cease their intervention in domestic affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina,” the Russian representative said.

“We insist on the immediate closure of the OHR. This is the very first necessary step towards stabilization of the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina,” he added.

He said it was time for the peoples of Bosnia and Herzegovina to gain “genuine sovereignty” and determine their own future.

Dayton as the only basis

The Russian representative said Moscow views Schmidt’s announced departure as “the right step,” but added that “the problems that he has created will need to be remedied.”

He praised what he called the “consistent policy of Bosnian Serbs in defense of the Dayton architecture” and said Banja Luka had proposed initiatives for internal Bosnian dialogue.

Russia also called on Security Council members to read the Republika Srpska government’s report on the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

“We believe that Dayton remains the basis to which there is no alternative for post-conflict resolution in Bosnia and Herzegovina,” he said.

“Any attempts to distort the Dayton framework would have catastrophic consequences for Bosnia and Herzegovina and the entire Western Balkans region,” the Russian representative concluded.