Russian Ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina Igor Kalabukhov said that Republika Srpska has every right to act as if the high representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina does not currently exist and assessed that the reason for the court process against the President of the Srpska Milorad Dodik is absurd.
“Dodik is accused of disobeying decisions imposed by a private person who is not a high representative and as such does not have the appropriate competences here. In addition, the president of the Republic represents the electoral will of the majority of citizens and his trial on the issue of opposing external dictates is a literal violation of the Constitution of Republika Srpska,” Russian ambassador stressed in an interview with SRNA.
When asked if there is a mechanism by which Christian Schmidt’s position could be challenged, bearing in mind the fact that he has created additional problems in BiH because he is in the position of high representative without a UN Security Council resolution, Kalabukhov stated that, for now, from a legal point of view, there is no high representative in BiH and his position is vacant.
“In the existing legal documents from Dayton until the conferences of the Peace Implementation Council (PIC), including the Bonn Conference in 1997, there is no mention of any restrictions or legal mechanisms for removing the high representative from his position. It is understood that this can be done by consensus decision of all PIC members,” said the Russian ambassador.
Kalabukhov assessed that in BiH there is a case of literal self-proclaimed usurpation of power.
“Considering that all critical situations were thoroughly discussed through official reports in the UN Security Council, including the reports of the high representative himself, I think that the Security Council is the only institution that can respond to the newly created situation,” said the Russian ambassador.
However, Kalabukhov pointed out, the problem is that the representatives of the collective West blindly push their interests in this body, ignoring legal norms.
Kalabuhov pointed out that the meaning of the so-called Bonn powers is completely distorted.
The Russian diplomat reminded that at the beginning it was planned that the so-called Bonn powers would only be a tool for removing non-cooperative politicians from their positions, and for the elaboration of temporary state mechanisms until all three constituent nations agree.
“However, that never happened and we see that the Bonn powers are being used to pass not only temporary laws, but the entire structure of the state administration, on which no consensus was ever reached in the country,” Kalabukhov warned.
In general, Kalabukhov said, OHR has become an anachronism. “Therefore, the OHR, as a tool of the external protectorate, must be closed,” said the Russian ambassador.
Referring to the attempts of the West to revise the Dayton Peace Accords, as a guarantor of peace, Kalabukhov pointed out that Russia starts from the fact that this document is the basis for the development of Bosnia and Herzegovina as a country of three equal nations and two entities.
“The future is in the hands of the citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina,” said Kalabuhov.
Source: srna.rs
