The UN Security Council (SC) is discussing Bosnia and the election of Christian Schmidt as the new High Representative in BiH. Russia's representative to the UN Security Council, Vasily Nebenzya, opposed the election of the new High Representative, saying he was not elected legally.

Nebenzya said Bosnian Serb-dominated Republika Srpska (RS) entity opposes Schmidt's election as the new High Representative.

“We are always ready to discuss finding a solution, but this is an attempt to elect a candidate for High Representative who does not have the support of the Security Council and one side in BiH,“ Nebenzya said adding that Schmidt would not have legitimacy.

According to him, this will ruin all the progress that has been made over the past 25 years, asking is that what the UN SC wants.

Representatives of other countries have expressed full support for respecting the Dayton Peace Agreement, that ended the 1992-1995 war in Bosnia and called on all parties to co-operate, hold dialogues, reach consensus in decision-making and work to recover BiH's economy, especially after the pandemic.

The representative of France warned that certain parties are calling for secession from BiH, which is a violation of the Dayton Peace Agreement. The UN Security Council ambassadors who spoke so far have given support to Schmidt. They said politicians and authorities should work to improve the living conditions of BiH citizens and expressed hope that the UN Security Council would support the new High Representative by consensus.

They also gave support to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of BiH, Bisera Turkovic, to address the UN SC.

The Ambassadors of the Steering Board of the Peace Implementation Council (PIC SB) formally appointed Christian Schmidt as the next High Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina in May 2021, following his candidature put forward by Germany.