Games around the Southern Interconnection: Tuđman's intelligence officer in an operation against the US, BH Gas, and Sarajevo

(Patria) - In order to justify the current obstructions, or rather blockades of the strategically important "Southern Interconnection" project orchestrated by the president of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Dragan Čović, which have recently led to strong reactions from official Washington, a meeting was held in Mostar this week where the study "Energy (In)dependence of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Strategic Partnership with the Republic of Croatia" was presented, writes Radio Sarajevo

Excluding Sarajevo – at all costs

The Croatian Radiotelevision (HRT) also reported on this event last night.

"It is of strategic interest for BiH to be more strongly connected to Croatia energetically in order to free itself from dependence on Russian gas through the Southern Gas Interconnection project, which would be managed by a company under the influence of NATO and EU circles," it was assessed in Mostar at the presentation of the energy study. This was reported by the Croatian News Agency (HINA), media close to HDZ BiH, as well as right-wing portals in neighboring Croatia.

The study was presented by the Institute for Research of Hybrid Conflicts from Zagreb, led by Dr. Gordan Akrap, together with the Institute for Social-Political Research (IPDI) from Mostar, with the support, as emphasized, of the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs (MVEP) of the Republic of Croatia.

Dr. Akrap assessed that it is extremely important to connect BiH via a gas pipeline to the LNG terminal on the island of Krk, which "after the Russian aggression on Ukraine showed its strategic importance for Croatia," but there is a serious condition... According to Akrap, Bosnia and Herzegovina "must achieve its energy independence from Russian gas" so that "the operator of the new company should be managed by EU and NATO member states through their instruments so that sources independent of Russian gas can supply Bosnia and Herzegovina safely and reliably".

On HRT, he was more precise, stating "that it is important that the Southern Interconnection is not managed by BH Gas, as proposed." This is exactly what Dragan Čović is asking for, whose HDZ BiH insists on forming a new company based in Mostar. Contrary to the positions of both Washington and common sense. Because the experienced Sarajevo company, owned by the Government of the Federation of BiH (where numerous Čović's ministers also sit!), has been involved in activities related to this gas pipeline for years and has cooperated with colleagues from the neighboring Western countries without major problems.

Interestingly, local portals in Posušje, the very town from which Čović claims "they will cut off gas from Sarajevo"!?, wrote about this in a fair manner four years ago.

The position of the United States of America is that Čović's demands are neither founded nor rational, and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken previously criticized him for this in a special letter addressed to the foreign ministers of Croatia and BiH. Blinken's assistant James O'Brien also directly criticized him during a recent visit to Sarajevo, Jutarnji.hr reminds us.

"The Federation of BiH has one gas transmission company, BH Gas, just as Croatia has only one gas transmission company. Čović's proposal to form a new transmission company, which currently does not exist, has no employees, no experience, no capacity to ensure stable financing, is not sustainable and will bury this project," stated the US Embassy in Sarajevo.

Despite this, the dean of the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Mostar, Dr. Sc. Dražen Barbarić, assessed at the Mostar gathering that the "current gas operator in the Federation of BiH" is a company ("BH Gas") that is "loss-making and burdened by corruption." He explained that it is illogical for the company to be a partner given that it is exposed to "malignant influence from Russia, Iran, and Turkey".

Perhaps by mentioning Turkey and Iran, the intention is – in Dodik's words – to warn Washington that Sarajevo is, after all, just "Tehran," and Sarajevo's "Muslims" are just "Muslims," even when HDZ BiH forms a government with desirable partners from the "Trojka."

Setting aside Ankara and Tehran, when Moscow is mentioned, it would be interesting if Dean Barbarić recalled who was asking for more "Russian influence" yesterday, who invited the Russian army to Herzegovina, and who is the "ruler of Herzegovina" who arrived precisely from Russia... but that's another topic altogether...

Mostar Operation

The entire background of this "Mostar operation" is interesting. It is known that the positions of the IPDI institute often coincide, to say the least, with HDZ BiH, and that they are frequent guests of media close to Čović and HDZ. A new element is the role of the Institute for Research of Hybrid Conflicts from Zagreb. Its initiator and president is Dr. Gordan Akrap.

Akrap was actually the long-time head of the Operations Department (OA) of the Croatian Intelligence Service (HIS). This is an intelligence service led by the late Prof. Dr. Miroslav Tuđman, son of the first Croatian president Dr. Franjo Tuđman.

The assistant director of HIS was Dr. Ivo Lučić, formerly the head of the Security Intelligence Service (SIS), an acronym well-known to all prisoners of war in Mostar.

The Croatian journalist Ivica Đikić also wrote about Akrap's connections with HIS in Feral in an article titled "Spies and Sing" published more than 20 years ago, stating that he was a prominent "HIS operative" who ended up in diplomatic service.

Akrap was also a brigadier and dean of the Military Academy "Dr. Franjo Tuđman" in Zagreb, and a member of the Security Intelligence Agency (SOA) until his retirement in 2017. He then became a member of the Council for Civil Oversight of Security Intelligence Agencies of the Croatian Parliament, until 2020. The latter was criticized by parts of the Croatian public due to a potential conflict of interest. Interestingly, he was "pushed into the powerful Council" by Miroslav Tuđman himself, who was also his mentor in doctoral studies. Akrap repaid this by posthumously editing the Collection of Works of Miroslav Tuđman, along with his biography, glorifying him as the creator of the "Croatian intelligence community".

This Akrap has been a frequent guest in recent years in media controlled by HDZ in Herzegovina. There, he has often claimed that "Greater Bosniak unitarians are calling for war and violence, like Greater Serbs in the 90s." He compared Bakir Izetbegović's statements to those of Radovan Karadžić! He stated that a part of Bosniak politics is pursuing "Putinism," that "the rhetoric of national unitarians is the same as that of Greater Serbian politics," and spoke about alleged support from Turkey and Iran for Bosniaks, etc...

Judging by the analysis of his public statements, Akrap often consciously manipulates facts to provoke distrust, fear, and even hatred among the citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina, especially Croats towards Bosniaks. Unfortunately, his homeland, neighboring Croatia, pays the price for this, and he has now become a gas expert. It is scandalous that, as previously revealed by the portal Istraga.ba, the study by intelligence officer Akrap – who claims that "BH Gas" must not be part of the "Southern Interconnection" project under any circumstances – was paid for by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Croatia, of which he was also an official. Namely, according to media reports, in January 2023, Minister Gordan Grlić Radman made a decision to finance the preparation of the study titled "Energy (In)dependence of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Strategic Partnership with the Republic of Croatia." 65,000 EUR was allocated from the RH Budget for the study.

So much for "BiH having no better ally than Croatia on this issue," and let Grlić Radman and Zagreb explain to Washington and Blinken whose orders Čović is following when he "stops a project that reduces Russia's influence."