MOSCOW, December 15. /TASS/. Christian Schmidt’s appointment as the new High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina is illegitimate without the authorization of the UN Security Council, and Moscow does not recognize this candidate, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told TASS on Wednesday.

"The German citizen, Christian Schmidt, cannot be the High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina, since the UN Security Council did not accept the resolution of his appointment. The statement "on Schmidt’s appointment" made on May 27 by the countries’ ambassadors of the steering board of the Peace Implementation Council of the Dayton Agreements for peace on Bosnia and Herzegovina accredited in Sarajevo is not sufficient," the diplomat stressed.

She added that under these conditions, the Bosnian Serbs, as one of the three equal state-forming peoples of Bosnia and Herzegovina, "rightfully refuse to recognize [Christian] Schmidt as a legitimate representative of the international community." In addition, Zakharova chided the statement over the alleged optional participation of the UN Security Council on this matter. "Both Annex 10 to the Dayton Agreements and the quarter-century practice of appointing high representatives say otherwise," Zakharova concluded.