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Russia against dragging Bosnia and Herzegovina into NATO, says Russian UN envoy

"It is none of our business, neither is it your business," Vasily Nebenzya said, addressing Western colleagues at a UN Security Council meeting

UNITED NATIONS, November 6. /TASS/. Russia objects against the course towards dragging Bosnia and Herzegovina into NATO as it would only aggravate contradictions inside the country, Russia’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Vasily Nebenzya said on Tuesday.

"I would like to confirm that as a member of the Contact Group and the Steering Board (of the Peace Implementation Council - TASS), Russia is committed to sustainable development of Bosnia and Herzegovina," he said. "But we never put our signature under any liabilities on dragging this country into Euro-Atlantic structures," he said at a UN Security Council meeting that passed a resolution on extending the EU-led military operation Althea in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

"It is none of our business, neither is it your business," he said addressing Western colleagues. "It is a matter of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s people."

Moscow "strongly objects against the course towards dragging BiH into NATO," Nebenzya stressed. "Such actions only aggravate contradictions inside the country. In this case no consensus that is envisaged by the 1995 peace agreement (The General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina - TASS) can be reached due to the principled position of Bosnian Serbs who are strongly against any division lines between Republika Srpska and Serbia," he said.