Alkalaj: UN Security Council session was a boomerang for Russia and its policies

(Patria) - Former BiH Ambassador to the UN and current BiH Ambassador to the US Sven Alkalaj, during his guest appearance on Hayat Television's "Dobar dan, BiH" show, spoke about the Resolution on the Genocide in Srebrenica, and analyzed the effects of the recently held emergency session of the UN Security Council.

Alkalaj says that the address by Željka Cvijanović in her personal capacity was met with derision in diplomatic circles, as she could not appear as a member of the BiH Presidency.

- The Permanent Representative of BiH to the UN, Ambassador Lagumdžija, was present at the session, so she addressed solely as Željka Cvijanović, and was perceived as such - says Alkalaj.

He reminds that, in addition to Ambassador Zlatko Lagumdžija, who spoke in an official capacity, High Representative Christian Schmidt also attended and addressed the session.

- The address by Marko Đurić, who is a candidate for the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Serbia, and who is currently my colleague, the Ambassador of Serbia in Washington, was also noted.

The entire atmosphere that prevailed at that session was a consequence of the initiative of the Russian Federation, which sought space for Željka Cvijanović's address, who, of course, unleashed her criticism and completely opposed the efforts of BiH diplomacy to find a solution in a professional and diplomatic manner.

The result was that 13 member states of the Security Council criticized the way the leadership of Republika Srpska and their officials behave, who deny genocide, glorify war crimes, and call for secession - says Alkalaj.

He also reminded that the idea of adopting the Resolution on Srebrenica has been active since 2019, but due to the outbreak of the war in Ukraine and the coronavirus epidemic, it was decided to wait for a better time.

- I think we have achieved much better effects today than if we had continued with that project back then, and the text of the Resolution itself has not changed much.

What happened is that the UN Security Council session, at Russia's insistence, fully illuminated the entire issue of the genocide in Srebrenica in a much broader way and presented a boomerang towards the Russian Federation and its efforts to prevent this resolution from being adopted - added Alkalaj.