Halilović: Russian support for RS separatism officially expressed for the first time through a statement!

Written by: Prof. Dr. Enver Halilović, former ambassador to Moscow

The Ambassador of the Russian Federation to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Igor Kalabukhov, has long acted contrary to the letter of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations towards Bosnia and Herzegovina, and especially towards the state authority of Bosnia and Herzegovina that granted him consent for diplomatic work and residence, the Presidency of BiH. However, with his latest statement (24.08.2023.), Kalabukhov has gone a step further in this regard.

He placed himself above the Presidency of BiH, taking it upon himself to condemn members of the Presidency of BiH, Željko Komšić, the current Chairman of the Presidency of BiH, and Presidency member Denis Bećirović, for their visit to Ukraine and their participation in the "Crimean Platform Summit."

Furthermore, by placing himself above the highest state authority in the country where he serves, above the Presidency of BiH, because they did not ask him whether they could visit his Ukraine, he directly threatened the territorial integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. He characterized the visit of the Presidency members of BiH to Ukraine as a "hostile act against the territorial integrity" of his country, only to then issue his shameless and brazen anti-diplomatic threat to the territorial integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Kalabukhov either does not know or pretends not to know that Bosnia and Herzegovina, in its centuries-long history, has never been a threat to anyone's territorial integrity, has never attacked a neighboring country, and objectively, by any parameter, cannot pose any threat to the territorial integrity of Russia, unlike Russia, which has always been, openly or latently, diplomatically or otherwise, ill-disposed towards Bosnia and Herzegovina, from the Austro-Hungarian occupation of Bosnia to the present day.

In its centuries-long history, longer than the history of its neighboring countries, Bosnia and Herzegovina has not committed a single genocide against the peoples of neighboring or other states, unlike Russia, which has a long tradition of genocide crimes, from the time of the Russian Empire to the present day.

Therefore, it is not insignificant for Bosnia and Herzegovina when a threat comes from Russia through the mouth of its authorized political representative. All the more so, as it is not a rare occurrence, in the past as well as today, for states to declare war on each other through their ambassadors. Perhaps this is not the case here, but the Presidency, as the representative of the state of BiH, is obliged, just in case, to precisely determine what this threat entails.

His militant-hegemonic threat to the territorial integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the "Ambassador of the RF to BiH," undiplomatically and directly stated in the aforementioned statement as follows: "We consider any form of joining the mentioned initiative (the Crimean Platform, added by E.H.) as an attack on the territorial integrity of the Russian Federation. We reserve the right to respond to hostile actions."

Instead of being grateful to the members of the Presidency of BiH for their visit to Ukraine and support for the international community to end Russian aggression against the sovereign state of Ukraine, to stop the killing of Ukrainian civilians in their homes and apartments, among whom perhaps Kalabukhov's relatives are dying, the militant Russian ambassador Kalabukhov threatens the territorial integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Following this unprecedented diplomatic scandal by Ambassador Kalabukhov, the Presidency of BiH is obliged to: (1) send a diplomatic note to the RF requesting an explanation of the aforementioned threat by its ambassador to the territorial integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina; (2) at the same time, urgently deport this Ambassador from BiH as a person who represents a threat to the territorial integrity, and thus the peace and security of the citizens, of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Russian support for the separatism of the RS has been known and evident until now, but now, as far as I know, it has been officially expressed for the first time through a statement by the Embassy of the Russian Federation in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

(3) The Presidency of BiH is obliged and duty-bound to inform the NATO alliance, the UN Security Council, the EU Council, and the USA about the threat of the Russian ambassador in BiH, Igor Kalabukhov, to the territorial integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Russian support for the separatism of the RS has been known and evident until now, but now, as far as I know, it has been officially expressed for the first time through a statement by the Embassy of the RF in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Bosnia and Herzegovina's commitment to peace in Ukraine is threatened by support for the separatism and irredentism of the Republika Srpska as the content of a direct Russian threat to the territorial integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina.