Komšić's appointees Alkalaj and Orlić placed BiH on the right side

(Patria) - With the vote of Sven Alkalaj, BiH Ambassador to the UN, for the Resolution condemning the Russian Federation's aggression against Ukraine, Bosnia and Herzegovina definitively sided with the right side of history last night. Although member of the Presidency of BiH Milorad Dodik claimed that there is no unified stance in BiH regarding the Ukrainian crisis, Bosnian-Herzegovinian diplomacy, referring to earlier decisions of state institutions, found a legal and legitimate way to join civilized countries.

The positioning of Bosnia and Herzegovina alongside the civilized world is important for several reasons. Among the first is certainly the attitude towards Ukraine as an independent and sovereign state. The second reason is the foreign policy positioning of BiH in the circumstances of major geopolitical shifts, and finally, it is also important for internal relations in BiH and political resistance to the pro-Russian alliance of Dodik – Čović.

How important that positioning would be was seen on the very first day of the Russian aggression against Ukraine, when the Chairman of the Presidency of BiH Željko Komšić received a call from the diplomatic representatives of Ukraine in BiH in the early morning hours, in which the Ukrainians requested political support from Bosnia and Herzegovina, which Komšić promised at the time.

The promise was not just words, as the Head of the BiH Mission to the Council of Europe Ivan Orlić expressed solidarity and support for Ukraine at an extraordinary session of the Council of Europe, and after that, following Komšić's instructions and referring to the relevant positions of Bosnia and Herzegovina towards Ukraine, Orlić voted for the suspension of the Russian Federation from the Council of Europe on behalf of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

At the same time, the Head of the BiH Mission to the UN Sven Alkalaj, at the United Nations, on the same principle, voted for Bosnia and Herzegovina to join the European Union's policy of imposing sanctions, and finally, Alkalaj, on behalf of Bosnia and Herzegovina, despite Dodik's numerous efforts to thwart something like that, also voted for the condemnation of Russian aggression against Ukraine.

These moves by Alkalaj and Orlić, preceded by instructions from the Chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina Željko Komšić to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of BiH Bisera Turković, stating that Bosnian-Herzegovinian diplomacy must be guided by the UN Charter and earlier conclusions of the state institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina regarding Ukraine, have placed Bosnia and Herzegovina on the right side at a very sensitive moment.

 It would be difficult to imagine what would have happened if Bosnia and Herzegovina, for example, had remained neutral and how Western partners would have viewed it, even though they are aware of the difficult internal circumstances BiH is facing.

Therefore, although it often seems that Bosnian-Herzegovinian diplomacy is slow and dysfunctional, this time the opposite conclusion must be drawn. The appointees of the Chairman of the Presidency of BiH Željko Komšić, Sven Alkalaj and Ivan Orlić, did the best possible job for Bosnia and Herzegovina in Strasbourg and New York. Whether it would have been the same if someone from the HNS – HDZ political group was in Komšić's place is a 'million-dollar' question.

(A.Č.Z.)