Crnadak: We will issue visas to Kosovo basketball players, Spasojević changed his mind

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - I don't know why Spasojević changed his mind. He could have said this three days ago and we wouldn't have this whole circus, said the Minister of Foreign Affairs of BiH Igor Crnadak for N1, adding that he will most likely "finish everything tonight and issue a visa for the Kosovo team".

Boris Spasojević, a member of the Management Board of the Basketball Association of BiH and president of KS RS, previously stated that it is not within the jurisdiction of the association whether Kosovo basketball players will receive visas and that as far as he is concerned, they can receive visas today or tomorrow.

Spasojević emphasized that the decision of Igor Crnadak, Minister of Foreign Affairs of BiH, was that Kosovo basketball players would not receive a visa to stay in BiH.

Crnadak rejected Spasojević's claims, and told N1 that Spasojević was against the Kosovo team playing.

- The Ministry has not yet made a decision, but after Spasojević's statement, it can make a decision. We received a letter from the Basketball Association of BiH, a letter that did not have his signature or his consent. After my associates, I personally spoke with him. He explicitly told me that he was against it and that his position was that the Kosovo team should not play.

I don't know why Spasojević changed his mind. He could have said this three days ago and we wouldn't have this whole circus. It is obvious that he was under some pressure or changed his mind on his own – you have to ask him. I think it was an unnecessary episode. Now, when we have the conditions – when we have the consent of the president and vice-president of the Management Board of the Basketball Association of BiH – we can even finish everything tonight and issue a visa for the Kosovo team.

Regarding what Spasojević told N1, that visas could have been issued three days ago – I just ask him why he didn't tell me that, because he told me that visas should not be issued. The situation is clear. The association now has a unified stance. After Spasojević's publicly stated and recorded statement, we will issue the visas – Crnadak told N1.

While the back-and-forth between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of BiH and the Basketball Association of BiH was ongoing, an ultimatum arrived at the Basketball Association of BiH from FIBA headquarters, demanding that visas for the Kosovo national team be issued by 8:30 PM tonight, otherwise the Basketball Association of BiH would be suspended indefinitely.