Serb leader tells EU Bosnia cannot join sanctions against Russia
SARAJEVO (Reuters) – Bosnian Serb nationalist chief Milorad Dodik instructed European Council President Charles Michel on Friday that Bosnia wants to take care of neutrality and never be part of EU sanctions in opposition to Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
Michel visited Bosnia as a part of his quick tour of the Western Balkan international locations geared toward reaffirming the bloc’s help for his or her EU integration plans and to ask them to affix a brand new EU geopolitical neighborhood in gentle of the continuing political and financial challenges.
Whereas embracing the EU’s renewed dedication to supporting Bosnia’s path to becoming a member of the bloc, Dodik, who’s a Serb member of the nation’s three-man inter-ethnic presidency, used the chance to stipulate the stance of Bosnian Serbs in the direction of the warfare in Ukraine and sanctions in opposition to Russia.
“I believe it’s of utmost significance for Bosnia to stay impartial,” Dodik stated at a joint information convention with Michel and presidency Bosniak chairman Sefik Dzaferovic. “In situations wherein we exist, it might be an issue for us to impose any type of sanctions and be part of the EU or international sanctions.”
Dodik was talking on behalf of the Bosnian Serbs, who’ve been nurturing shut ties with Russia based mostly on their widespread Orthodox Christian faith, as has Serbia which additionally refused to impose sanctions on Russia.
“Apart from exhibiting solidarity with the European Union on this regard, I believe that we might have grave financial penalties that might be multiplied in comparison with EU international locations which have collective safety mechanisms,” Dodik stated.
Bosnia’s tripartite presidency has not adopted a standard stance on the warfare in Ukraine however its Bosniak and Croat members have strongly condemned the Russian invasion and supported all EU selections.
Twenty-seven years after the tip of a warfare that claimed about 100,000 lives, the three nationalist ethnic elites are protecting the Balkan nation politically divided and susceptible to endemic corruption whereas its residents are leaving en masse.
(Reporting by Daria Sito-Sucic in Sarajevo; Modifying by Matthew Lewis)
