prijava
MOSTAR, January 17 (FENA) - Ambassador of the Russian Federation to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Petr Ivantsov, said in Mostar on Thursday that he is not against BiH joining NATO, but that “it is for BiH itself to decide where it wants to be.”
“It is your decision, not mine,” said Russian Ambassador today during his visit to the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Mostar, where he opened an exhibition of photographs "The Peoples of Russia" and gave a lecture on "Russia in a system of contemporary international relations".
He added that “there is consensus within Bosnia and Herzegovina on the issue of NATO membership.”
“When I speak about NATO, I am always talking about two different things: the first one being Euro-Atlantic path or NATO and the second one is membership in the European Union. The desire of the majority of the BiH population is that the state becomes a member of the EU, but as far as NATO is concerned, there is no consensus in your society, therefore, more attention should be paid when deciding for one side or the other, because that decision can even bring more problems to the country” said Ivantsov on this occasion.
Speaking about cooperation with the University of Mostar, Russian Ambassador said he was very happy that fifty students at the Faculty of Philosophy are studying the Russian language.
He emphasized that he was particularly pleased that there is an interest in Mostar for the Russian language and culture, and that this is a very important aspect of friendly relations.
(FENA) S. R.
