Members of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina Zeljko Komsic and Sefik Dzaferovic have explained their refusal to participate in the meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Tuesday by frustration with his earlier meeting with another Presidency member, Milorad Dodik
BELGRADE (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 15th December, 2020) Members of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina Zeljko Komsic and Sefik Dzaferovic have explained their refusal to participate in the meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Tuesday by frustration with his earlier meeting with another Presidency member, Milorad Dodik.
Lavrov arrived in Bosnia and Herzegovia on Monday and first met with Dodik, a member of the three-member Presidency representing the country's Serbian population. Komsic represents Croats, while Dzaferovic represents Bosniaks, Muslim Slavs. Together, these three ethnic groups make the key populations of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
"Everyone is clear about that Lavrov is among the world's top three diplomats. The person with such an experience has all actions planned in advance. What we observed since the moment he arrived in Bosnia and Herzegovina were signals from the country that he represents," Komsic said at a briefing, as quoted by local news outlet Federalna.
The Croat and Bosniak presidency members were angered by the absence of Bosnia and Herzegovina flag at the meeting between Lavrov and Dodik, where only Russian and Serbian state symbols were featured, Komsic said.
"We want friendly relations with Russia, but we also want it to respect the institutes of Bosnia and Herzegovina," the Croat presidency member said.
According to the official, the Russian foreign minister's endorsement of Bosnia and Herzegovina's Serbian autonomy's resolution on military neutrality is in contradiction with the principle that such decisions can only be made at the level of central Bosnian authorities.
Dzaferovic voiced complete solidarity with Komsic's statements.
In 1992, Bosnia and Herzegovina withdrew from what was then Yugoslavia. For the next three years, the country was engulfed in a conflict among its Bosniak, Croat and Serb populations. The conflict ended with the Dayton Agreement in 1995, under which Bosnia and Herzegovina was administratively carved into three units � two autonomous areas, Republika Srpska and the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the self-governing district of Brcko.
Lavrov's visit to Republika Srpska, the country's Serbian autonomy, on December 14 marked the 25th anniversary since the signing of the Dayton Agreement in Paris. The Russian foreign minister payed a visit to the site in the Istocno Sarajevo city where a monument was installed in 2017 in memory of former Russian UN Permanent Representative Vitaly Churkin.
