Escobar in Zagreb: Advocate for Serbia and Vučić, in BiH the Problem of Parties That Have Been in Power for 30 Years

(Patria) - Croatian President Zoran Milanović is wrong when he says the United States is indirectly waging war with Russia through Ukraine, said US Special Envoy for the Western Balkans Gabriel Escobar in Zagreb today. He added that Serbia is not pretending when it says it wants to improve relations with Zagreb.

Milanović has stated several times that the US is waging a proxy war against Russia through Ukraine, that the reverse is also true, and that the war in Ukraine will therefore be resolved between Washington and Moscow.

"In that regard, Milanović is wrong, this is not a proxy war, this is an attempt to help the victim of unprovoked aggression to defend itself," Escobar said in Zagreb today. For Croatia, what it does is more important than what its politicians say.

"In all aspects, Croatia is on the right side - in every decision, in every declaration, in its actions."

At the very end of the year in which the Serbian political leadership sent inflammatory messages about Croatia - President Aleksandar Vučić accused it of energy sabotage and repeated that he "does not want to go to the Croatian sea", and his defense minister called the Croatian government "Ustasha" and "inferiority complex-ridden" - Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dačić announced that Vučić had asked him to "thaw" relations with Zagreb.

A week later, on the occasion of Orthodox Christmas, Dačić arrived in Zagreb and called for a "competition in building peace" between the two countries.

Escobar said on Monday in a conversation with journalists in the Croatian capital, a few days after his stay in Belgrade, that this initiative is "real" and that Serbia "wants and must improve its relations with one of its most prosperous neighbors."

The White House envoy for the Western Balkans said that behind this is Belgrade's need to realize that "Russia is not a reliable partner" as it is considered in Serbia and that Russian President Vladimir Putin "will never again be a credible interlocutor."

"They must begin to reconsider their international position, and I think part of that is repairing relations with neighbors," Escobar emphasized.

He believes that Serbia must join Western sanctions against Russia because it is also a legal obligation on its path to the European Union, and until that happens, the US will continue to work to make Serbia "understand the consequences of malicious Russian influence in the Balkans."

Escobar emphasized in an interview with Hina at the end of 2021 that Bosnia and Herzegovina does not have an "ethnic problem, but a corruption problem." Asked whether things have moved from a deadlock after the changes to the election law and the holding of elections, the envoy said that "the problems in BiH have not changed."

"The reason why people and companies are leaving is not the multi-ethnic character of the state - people are not leaving because they do not want to live with Croats, Bosniaks or Serbs, they are leaving because they cannot find a job without political connections. That is killing the state."

Because of this, it is less important who is elected if corruption is still present, Escobar continued. He also emphasizes that part of this problem is "some of the parties" that have been in power for 30 years and corruption has become part of them.

The US therefore wants an urgent confrontation with corrupt practices in BiH, and Washington will help with its engagement and sanctions.

Speaking about EUFOR Althea, the EU peacekeeping mission in BiH in which Bosniak politicians do not want to see Croatian soldiers, Escobar said that the final decision on this depends on "European structures" because it is an internal European issue.

He emphasized that the US supports the presence of peacekeeping forces in that country, as well as the High Representative who must have a strong ability to use his Bonn Powers. "I think the international community still has an important role in BiH. Croatia as well," Escobar said.