According to foreign media reports, the former high representative in Bosnia, Paddy Ashdown, believes that Putin is using the Ukrainian crisis as a cover to launch a power grab in Bosnia that could lead to the disintegration of the Balkan state.
The move is said to be part of a flexing of Moscow’s muscle across eastern Europe that is alarming some of Russia’s neighbors, reads a report published by “The Times”.
Ashdown, the high representative from 2002 to 2006, will use a speech tomorrow in the Bosnian capital, Sarajevo, to deliver a stark warning that Western neglect has allowed the country to turn into a “failed state”, vulnerable to meddling by Russia, a former strong ally of Serbia, continues the report.
He believes this to be a direct strike at the sovereignty of Bosnia and can only have the effect of encouraging the break-up of the Bosnian state. Ashdown’s comments follow Milorad Dodik’s visit to Moscow last week.
