BELGRADE, March 12. /TASS/. President of Republika Srpska (one of Bosnia and Herzegovina's entities) Milorad Dodik plans to meet "at the highest level" with Russian representatives soon and ask them to raise the issue of ending the EU military operation in the country under EUFOR Althea due to violation of its mandate in the UN Security Council.
"In the coming days, I will hold a meeting at the highest level with the representatives of the Russian Federation, and unlike in all previous years, when I asked for the preservation of EUFOR Althea, now I will ask the Russians to veto and prevent the preservation of a subversive structure that abuses the UN mandate and poses a threat to the Serbs by introducing some kind of force only because they are asking for it in Sarajevo," Radio and Television of Republika Srpska quoted Dodik as saying.
The EU military units of the EUFOR Althea military operation were replaced by the multinational Stabilization Force (SFOR) in 2004. SFOR has been stationed in Bosnia and Herzegovina since the signing of the Dayton Peace Agreement, which ended the Bosnian war in 1995. On March 6, Sarajevo asked the EU to increase the number of troops in Bosnia and Herzegovina "due to the deteriorating security situation." Today the EUFOR contingent in the Balkan state amounts to 1,100 people. The Dnevni avaz newspaper reported that 400 troops from Bulgaria, Romania, and Slovenia will join in the coming days.
The situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina
The country, in fact, is governed through a high representative of the international community (the post was created in accordance with the Dayton Agreement), who is appointed by a steering committee of the Council for the Implementation of the Peace Agreement on Bosnia and Herzegovina after the approval of the candidacy by the UN Security Council. However, in May 2021, the ambassadors of the steering committee countries appointed German representative Christian Schmidt as the new high representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina without approval from the UN Security Council. This is why Republika Srpska, as well as Russia and China, do not recognize his legitimacy.
On February 26, a Bosnia and Herzegovina court sentenced Dodik to a year in prison and banned him from political activity for six years for ignoring Schmidt's decisions. It was a decision of the court of first instance, which can be appealed. The final decision will be made by the second instance chamber of the Bosnia and Herzegovina Court before the end of this year. Dodik warned of his readiness to declare the entity's independence in the event of further attempts by Schmidt to lobby for laws infringing on the rights of Bosnian Serbs. He also advised the Bosnian Croats to think about recreating their unrecognized state entity Herceg Bosna, which ceased to exist with the end of the Bosnian war after the conclusion of the Dayton Peace Treaty in 1995.
Earlier on March 12, the Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina requested security agencies’ assistance in detaining Dodik, Republika Srpska Prime Minister Radovan Viskovic, and Parliament Chairman Nenad Stevandic. Republika Srpska Interior Minister Sinisa Karan ruled out the possibility of their detention.