Moscow political liturgy: What will Čović promise the Russians to deliver the election law

Written by: Rasim Belko

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Dragan Čović, Chairman of the House of Peoples of the State Parliament, leader of the Croatian Democratic Union and the NGO HNS, is traveling to Russia. 

On the principle that the mountain will not come to Muhammad, Muhammad will go to the mountain, Čović is going to the Russians because he lacks Russian influence in Bosnia and Herzegovina, especially in the Federation. 

This is not the first time a Croatian politician from BiH or its neighborhood has gone to Moscow to ask for Russian political power to be involved in BiH's internal processes. 

Čović has been left without a spokesperson for the Ustasha view of the state, Kolinda Grabar Kitarović, so he is forced to go and ask himself. The first thing I asked myself when I heard about the HDZ leader's campaign on Moscow was what a 'promoter of European values' was looking for in a country with which the EU does not align in any way. 

I even thought that one of the commissioners of European organizations had asked Čović to go and see what the chances are for Russia to start the accession process. But why would someone from the EU entrust such a task to Čović, a follower of criminal juntas and a promoter of democracy based on the principle of ethnic cleansing. 

And then I remembered legitimacy and legality. I remembered Željko Komšić and those sad faces in the capital of Bosnian Croats. I remembered what Dragan Čović's face looked like after he was ousted from the Presidency of BiH. 

Although he had previously pushed the narrative about the endangerment of the Croatian people in BiH, from that night he went all-in - all or nothing. To this day, mostly thanks to the international community and the late sober BiH politician, Čović has gotten nothing. But the master of life in western Herzegovina is aware that without the ELECTION LAW, he will remain only a political dead man and an NGO activist with the prefix UZP. 

That is why Čović needs the Russians and their anti-Bosnian policy. 

Aware that he has lost support in most embassies of the Western world, and that Bakir cannot give in to him because of Komšić, Čović is following in the footsteps of his friend Dodik. 

Čović's turn to the East is already almost a known thing. He was probably taught that by the former president of the reserve homeland. 

The HDZ leader is now a bigger Russian player in BiH than Milorad Dodik. Because of this, he is currently more dangerous for this country than the entire policy from Republika Srpska.
That same Čović advocated for the formation of the Council of Ministers regardless of whether any such document would go to NATO headquarters. And he was once a 'great promoter and advocate' and swore by the path to NATO. 

Today, NATO is no longer a priority. In the fight for political oxygen, Dragan Čović will make a pact even with the devil. 

The message that "the FBiH especially lacks Russian influence" is not the most dangerous message from Čović's interview with "Rossiyskaya Gazeta". It is dangerous, but much more dangerous are the facts that Čović is calling for enhanced parliamentary cooperation between BiH and Russia. 

In other words, Čović is copying the President of Serbia, who is tired of running from one end of the scale that balances relations between East and West to the other. The key difference is that Čović certainly does not have the consent of the Parliament of Bosnia and Herzegovina to develop relations with the Russians. 

However, parliamentary cooperation is not the only thing on the HDZ leader's mind. He has been an advocate of Russian financial interests in Bosnia and Herzegovina for quite some time. His party soldiers even tried to bring the Russians into Aluminij. 

A special and most interesting item of Dragan Čović's expensive trip to Moscow is the meeting with the Chairwoman of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, Valentina Matviyenko. 

"We advocate that BiH leave decision-making to the entities and for the reform of the BiH judiciary," Matviyenko said during her visit to BiH and explained in the middle of Sarajevo that "a civil war took place" in BiH. 

That was on April 23, and the day after, Matviyenko told Dodik at a meeting that Russia opposes Bosnia and Herzegovina's NATO path. And that was not enough for her, so she, unprovoked, condemned Montenegro's approach to NATO.

Because of all the above, Dragan Čović's trip is extremely dangerous for Bosnia and Herzegovina, its security and future. 

Because it is entirely reasonable to expect that the Russian politicians Čović meets will support everything he asks for. That is guaranteed and known before his departure. 

What is unknown and therefore more dangerous is the PRICE that Čović is willing to pay to get a Croatian electoral entity and secure lifelong power for himself and his circle. Čović was never a great fighter for BiH, but it is completely clear that after the Moscow political liturgy, he will be ready for much worse.