Nikšić's Government again agrees for Energoinvest to open a foreign currency account in Serbia to pay in Russian rubles!

By: Amina Čorbo-Zećo

Amidst the talk about the Southern Interconnection project, insisted upon by the United States, which has put Dragan Čović, leader of HDZ BiH, under scrutiny, new evidence is emerging about the urgent need for the construction of this gas pipeline. Then, payment transactions would simply have to go through Belgrade and in rubles.

And while the Government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, led by Nermin Nikšić (SDP), is keeping the company BH-Gas, which is supposed to be the holder of the Southern Interconnection project, headless, all according to Čović's wishes, it operates with Russia contrary to European practice!

Namely, Nermin Nikšić's Government has made another decision, giving Energoinvest consent to open a foreign currency account abroad.

This was decided at an emergency session of the Government on January 31, 2024.

"Previous consent is given to Energoinvest to open a foreign currency account abroad for the purpose of paying for supplied gas with the bank Poštanska štedionica – Belgrade, Republic of Serbia," the decision states.

An identical decision was made last year, at a time when the European Union was introducing a new set of sanctions against Russia.

We remind you that Serbia is one of the few countries in Europe that does not comply with the sanctions imposed on Russia by the European Union, after the aggression against Ukraine, and can make payments in rubles.

Given that BiH has voted for and respects the sanctions imposed on Russia, the question is whether Nermin Nikšić's Government is violating these sanctions with such actions, while presenting itself as a reformist government on BiH's path to the European Union.

Not directly, but indirectly, by introducing Serbia as an intermediary in payments, which the Federation cannot make directly.

The EU has imposed extensive and unprecedented sanctions on Russia in response to the aggressive war against Ukraine, which began on February 24, 2022, and the illegal annexation of the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson.

We remind you that BiH is currently supplied with gas from Russia. In order to reduce dependence on Russian gas, the Federation of BiH, earlier, in cooperation with the EU and USAID, launched the Southern Gas Interconnection project, through which gas from Azerbaijan would be announced.

However, after Nikšić became prime minister, the Government of the Federation of BiH withdrew the law on the Southern Interconnection from parliamentary procedure. At the same time, the Council of Ministers of BiH initiated the process of negotiations with Serbia on the construction of the New Eastern Interconnection. The Southern Interconnection is also on hold at the BiH level. Therefore, the coalition consisting of SNSD, HDZ, SDP, Naša stranka, and NiP has taken concrete steps that increase BiH's dependence on Russian gas.

Precisely because of this, the Assistant Secretary of State for Europe and Eurasia, James O'Brien, very openly stated that the leader of HDZ BiH, Dragan Čović, is blocking the Southern Interconnection, the natural gas pipeline to Croatia, but it is interesting that O'Brien did not mention the fact that the law on the Southern Interconnection was withdrawn from parliamentary procedure by the new Prime Minister Nermin Nikšić.