Will Russians be accomplices in genocide?

By Muhamed Fazlagić, sociologist, University of Louisville

The approaching session of the United Nations Security Council on July 7, 2015, is one of the most important for Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia.

If it were otherwise, both Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, for the future of their citizens, would strive for a clear message to be finally sent from the highest world instance that genocide occurred in Srebrenica 20 years ago. However, the two countries have found themselves on opposite sides, because it is clear that if this resolution is adopted, Serbia's deaf-ear policy will lead its leaders to a dead end, and resistance to such a policy will grow over time until final surrender and public declaration and acceptance of facts.

Once again, through the negligent policy of the Serbian leadership, its citizens will be kept in delusion until the very end, and they will continue to pay the price for such negligence. The whole world will be on one side, and Serbia will be alone on the other. What a luxury!

In recent days, Serbia has been trying to draw Russia into a fight against the West to block the adoption of a resolution qualifying the events as genocide. Whether it will succeed remains to be seen, although it is believed that Russia will not, after all, support Serbia's disastrous policy with all its capacities and leverage. A video of the graves of Russian soldiers who killed citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina during the war has appeared online in recent days.

The recording attached shows a cemetery near Sarajevo where Russian soldiers who fired on Bosnia and Herzegovina are buried. Graves of Russian soldiers can also be found in other parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Concrete evidence of the presence of Russian volunteers in BiH during the war today are the graves of those killed in Lukavica, Fazlagić Kula, Višegrad, Lopare, and Bileća.

One of the first to seriously address the issue of Russian volunteers in Bosnia was Andrej Markov, a Russian journalist who published the book "After the Rains," which testifies to the participation of Russian volunteers and mercenaries in the ranks of the Serbian army during the aggression against BiH. Describing the Russian volunteers, Markov wrote: "During one battle near Višegrad, 25 Russian volunteers were killed. Shaken by the death of their comrades, the volunteers exacted a heavy price from the Muslims. For each volunteer killed, they killed 20 Muslims."

Will Russian diplomacy decide to show solidarity with this segment of its society, which was very instrumental in carrying out the genocide?

We believe that Russia's decision will ultimately be statesmanlike and that it will not allow itself to be on the dark side of history, even though some of its citizens fired on the citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina in their country. This is a serious stain, and whether it will become larger will depend on Russia's decision on July 7, 2015.