U.S. Embassy: We encourage BiH to respect sanctions against Russia

We encourage Bosnia and Herzegovina to align its foreign and energy policy with the policy of the European Union, say the U.S. Embassy in Sarajevo in response to a query from the Patria News Agency on how they view the fact that BiH has not yet imposed sanctions on Russia.

- We also encourage BiH to respect the relevant sanctions applied against Russia – stated the Public Affairs Office of the U.S. Embassy in Sarajevo.

Otherwise, the European Union adopted a new set of stricter sanctions against Russia just before Eid, due to the downing of a Malaysian civilian plane in which nearly 300 people were killed. However, Bosnia and Herzegovina, despite being a potential candidate for membership in the European Union, has not adopted these, nor earlier sanctions against Moscow and its officials who are assisting Ukrainian separatists.

Furthermore, just a few days after Brussels voted for sanctions due to an unprecedented crime and the downing of a civilian plane, the highest BiH officials received representatives of the largest Russian state company "Gazprom" in Sarajevo. The Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as previously announced, could not reach an agreement on introducing sanctions against Russia, even though the EU is requesting it, and BiH has an obligation under the Stabilization and Association Agreement to align its foreign policy with that of Europe.