As Russia Advances Towards Europe, Bosnia and Herzegovina's NATO Path and Reform Program are Blocked

(Patria) - After a four-month Russian offensive, Ukrainian troops withdrew from the city of Avdiivka. The capture of Avdiivka was crucial for Russia's goal of securing full control over two provinces that make up the industrial region of Donbas. With this, Russia has continued its successes in Ukraine.

"Europeans should be worried. Ukraine is truly fighting for European security today, and Ukrainians are dying for other Europeans," said Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference.

In a conversation with the media, Zourabichvili said that Russia's nature is such that it does not stop its attacks unless someone stops it.

When it comes to potential new targets of the Russian president, Zourabichvili said that all options are on the table.

"There is no difference between the Baltic states, Poland, and the rest of the European Union. The choice that Vladimir Putin will make, if this continues and if he is not defeated in Ukraine, could be anything," she added.

Although the Georgian president did not mention the Western Balkans, Russia's plans for destabilizing the Western Balkans, especially those in Kosovo (the Banjska case) and plans for destabilizing Bosnia and Herzegovina, have been clear for a long time.

It is clear that the European Union, nor its leading countries like Germany, whose Ministry of Defense supplied Ukraine with armored vehicles that are completely unsuitable for combat and were sold to Ukrainians at inflated prices, can play a key role in curbing destabilization.

It is clear that the NATO alliance is the only credible factor that can prevent Russian destabilization of the Western Balkans, including Bosnia and Herzegovina. However, on the other hand, the stagnation of Bosnia and Herzegovina on its NATO path is worrying.

Namely, the new Council of Ministers, led by Borjana Krišto from HDZ, along with the Ministry of Defense managed by SDP, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs led by Elmedin Konaković (NiP), have not managed to submit a single Reform Program to NATO headquarters in Brussels, which not only represents a blockade on Bosnia and Herzegovina's NATO path but also an obstacle for the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which are a NATO partner. To make matters worse, the NATO Commission, which is responsible for drafting the Reform Program, is not even meeting.

All of this, along with Russia's progress in Ukraine, which also increases the possibility of Russian destabilization of Bosnia and Herzegovina, is even more worrying because the Bosnian-Herzegovinian authorities, and especially the representatives of the Troika, must move from declarative statements about commitment to NATO to concrete actions in order to fulfill the obligations that the state has undertaken in the process of approaching NATO.

(M. T)