Elmedin one way, Konaković another: Did Detektor detect the Foreign Minister's lack of knowledge: Which Russians, Bisera's Russians?

By: Rasim Belko

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina behaves like some social sheriff tasked with dealing with matters ranging from building stairs in a municipality, through illegal investigations, to commenting on data he has only just heard about, all in an attempt to be seen by the public as the first among Bosniaks. Perhaps that's why he mentions the SDA party of origin and its leader Bakir Izetbegović, or SDA cadres, in every address.

Thus, seven days ago he said one thing about Russian diplomats and their arrival in BiH, and seven days later, today, he says another.

In the show Pressing on N1 television, when asked about Russian diplomats expelled from EU countries after Russia's aggression against Ukraine, Minister Konaković acted like someone well-informed about the issue. He presented himself as usual, omnisciently, explaining that the MFA had asked the Kremlin not to send them even before their arrival, that he had checked at the Ministry and that nothing had been done wrong at the Ministry.

“In cooperation with OSA, at the request of OSA, before they arrived, we from the MFA sent a note to Russia and warned, requested, asked them not to send these people. I checked if we made any mistake, no mistake, not a single part for which we were responsible passed through my ministry,” said Minister Konaković on Pressing last Wednesday.

Seven days later, Minister Konaković concluded another of his investigations and determined that the former minister Bisera Turković, of course from the SDA, had issued ID cards to Russian diplomats. Although he mentioned steps before the arrival of Russian diplomats seven days ago and talked about checks at the MFA, Konaković has investigated and established to this day that these are Bisera Turković's Russians.

Konaković in Pressing: We checked, MFA made no mistake pic.twitter.com/fxPBykHnen

— Patria (@AgencijaPatria) September 13, 2023

“Two Russian diplomats who were expelled from European countries arrived – one arrived on October 25, 2022, his name is Selov, and the other, named Sokolov, arrived on January 12, 2023. At that time, Minister Turković was at the head of the Ministry, Osman Mehmedagić at the head of OSA, and Fahrudin Halač was the deputy director of GPBiH. The Russian embassy submitted a request to the MFA for ID issuance within all deadlines. The diplomats entered without announcement, and then the embassy requested ID issuance…,” Minister Konaković told us at a press conference.

The question now is what is the truth, given that the minister said last Wednesday that a note was sent to Russia “even before they arrived”. What did the minister check at the Ministry if he didn't see that Russian diplomats, as he tells us today, arrived during the time of the former Council of Ministers.

Was the minister trying to guess something by speaking without information, or do different statements indicate that he does not have full control over all information?

The impression is that the minister did not even know that they were in Bosnia and Herzegovina until Detektor published the story about the Russian diplomats. And the minister is not new to this, he has been in that position for eight months, so it is strange how Konaković, who knows who Mehmedagić eavesdropped on and what the problem is at Vranduk, does not know about the Russian diplomats to whom his Ministry issued IDs. Or does Konaković think that the Ministry's affairs only concern him from the time of his appointment until the end of his mandate?

And finally, Minister Konaković dedicated half of today's conference to the topic of BiH's path to the European Union. It is interesting that he did not even mention what he will do with the Russian diplomats expelled from the EU. Is Bosnia and Herzegovina, Minister Konaković, following the foreign policy of the EU or Belgrade?

Because, even if the SDA were absolutely guilty, they are not in power, you are, what will you do about this foreign policy and security issue?