WHAT KOŠARAC IS TRYING: Oil fuels in the grip of the Russian Federation

By: Almir Bečarević

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To make this text understandable to the citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina, I will only state that it originates in the independent, democratic, and sovereign state of Bosnia and Herzegovina – otherwise a UN member.

The Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations of BiH addressed the Government of the Federation of BiH, with reference number: 09-1-28-462-86/20 from September of this year, requesting that it provide its Opinion on the COMMENTS OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION ON THE DRAFT DECISION ON THE QUALITY OF LIQUID PETROLEUM FUELS.

To be precise, the state Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations requested comments from the Russian Federation on the text of the Draft Decision on the quality of liquid petroleum fuels. By not adopting this decision, which would be aligned with EU standards, we are violating our obligations towards the Energy Community, and at the same time, Russia is blocking BiH's entry into the WTO if the decision is not aligned with Russian demands.

At the same time, the Government of the Federation of BiH has given its consent to the text of the Decision, but the Russian Federation, with its remarks, continues to demand preferential status for low-quality Russian oil/derivatives, as it is obvious that no one has informed them that the Refinery in Brod has not been operational for over 3 years, and that there will be no more Russian oil in Europe except through the Druzhba pipeline.

The state Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations, in its constant attempt to maintain Russian influence in BiH, not only through this decision but also through the new Eastern Gas Interconnection, is now only contributing to the Russian Federation conditioning our entry into the World Trade Organization WTO, but now on completely irrational grounds.

The oil refinery in Brod has not been in operation for more than three years and is no longer involved in oil refining, but in trading compressed natural gas via pipeline, which was built from the direction of Croatia during the night hours when border guards were apparently asleep.

The owner of the Refinery has shown no interest in resuming production at the Brod Refinery in the last three years, but this has not prevented the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations from seeking an opinion from the Russian Federation on a decision that no longer has any connection with the Russian Federation, nor with the refining of oil in Brod. In addition to this, it appears that Minister Košarac, who initiated the request for an opinion from the Russian Federation, has not informed it about the European Union's decisions to prevent the export of Russian oil to EU countries, except for the Druzhba pipeline for a certain period, and that Serbia will be left without Russian oil transported via JANAF.

All of this shows the state of energy in BiH, or rather, what Republika Srpska is persistently trying to achieve, which is the continuation of Russian influence in BiH, representing a state of hibernation, but one thing remains unclear: the obstacle to BiH's entry into the WTO is only this decision and the Russian interest that was contained in the low-quality derivatives from the Brod Refinery, and therefore the masochism of Mr. Košarac in continuing to seek the opinion of the Russian Federation on something that Russian companies renounced three years ago is surprising. All of this is surprising because it is well known what WTO membership would bring to BiH, and thus to Republika Srpska, but it remains unclear that a sovereign country, or its state ministry, seeks an opinion from a third country on something that it itself has ruined through inefficient management at the Brod Refinery.