prijava
SARAJEVO, January 14 (FENA) - A report titled "Putin's Asymmetric Attack on Democracy in Russia and Europe: Implications for the National Security of the United States" among other things, states that Milorad Dodik is Putin’s preferred interlocutor in BiH.
The report was prepared for the Senate of the United States by senators from the Democrat ranks.
The report states that parts of the government in Bosnia and Herzegovina have expressed desire to join NATO.
"In order to move forward, all three constituent peoples represented in the BiH Presidency – Bosniaks, Croats, and Serbs - will have to agree on the Bosnian application for NATO membership and implement the requested reforms. RS maintains close relations with Moscow. Although the central government in Sarajevo has voiced support for the implementation of the NATO Membership Action Plan (MAP), the RS parliament passed a non-binding resolution against the potential membership of BiH in the military alliance in October 2017,” it is said in the report, N1 TV reports.
In the last few years, Russia has strengthened its relationship with RS President Milorad Dodik, which could prove to be useful for hampering Bosnia's NATO bid," the report said.
"Although Dodik does not have any powers at the state level, Vladimir Putin has met him on several occasions, while he has never met with the central government in Sarajevo, and this diplomatic protocol clearly shows that he is a go to person for Russia. The Russian Federation also voiced its support for the referendum held in RS, which the Constitutional Court of BiH found that it has violated the rights of the non-Serb population in RS, "it is said.
"If Bosnia and Herzegovina is to make a significant progress towards NATO, Russia could have an impact on RS to prevent this progress. The media space is already prepared for this possibility because the media in RS rely on anti-NATO and anti-EU content produced by Sputnik in Belgrade. The Russian influence in Banja Luka, de facto the capital of RS, is ubiquitous - the central newsstands are filled with t-shirts, coffee cups and other souvenirs that glorify the Russian Federation and Vladimir Putin," it is said in the report.
(FENA) S. R.
