Russian Embassy to Bosnia and Herzegovina said on Thursday it closely followed the statements by US ambassador Eric Nelson and special envoy for the Western Balkans Matthew Palmer who, according to the embassy, blamed Russia for all the troubles that Bosnia and Herzegovina has. Pročitaj više

The statement comes a day after Palmer's interview to N1, in which he spoke about the situation in the Western Balkans, commenting among other things the alleged non-paper on redrawing of borders in the Western Balkans and Russia's influence in the region.

Palmer said Russia works to undermine the stability of not only Bosnia and Herzegovina but the whole region, which sparked the reaction of this country's embassy in Sarajevo.

“According to Palmer – and obviously not only him – Russia is to blame for all the troubles that Bosnia and Herzegovina has. We can only comment on such conclusions using one saying by (Russia's Foreign Minister) Sergey Lavrov: ‘It's good that they don't blame us for the murder of Franz Ferdinand’,” the embassy said.

The embassy assessed as “very interesting” Palmer's statement that the US supports the creation of “greater Bosnia and Herzegovina,” commenting that such attributes usually mean redrawing of borders. “We have noticed an omission in the speech but the omissions in the Balkan conditions are usually not observed. When one speaks about something ‘greater’, they refer exactly to the redrawing of borders.”

Speaking to N1's Pressing, Palmer said the US does not support greater Serbia, greater Croatia, or greater Albania, but that it does support the greater Bosnia and Herzegovina. However, he explained this was not a geographic term.

“The country that presents a good administration. Transparency. Responsibility. Prosperity. The government that delivers to the people of Bosnia and Herzegovina what it needs. That's the vision of greater Bosnia and Herzegovina that has the strong support of the US,” he said.