Is Johann Sattler part of the Putin – Orban strategy against BiH?

By: Amina Čorbo - Zećo

At the end of November this year, the European Commissioner for Neighborhood and Enlargement Oliver Varhelyi agreed with Milorad Dodik to hold a special session of the NSRS which directly strikes at the constitutional order of Bosnia and Herzegovina. 

Given that such a strike could lead to the secession of part of the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Social Democratic Party of BiH, the Democratic Front and Šemsudin Mehmedović of the SDA reacted vigorously.

In a statement to the press, the spokesperson of the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Peter Stano did not deny the existence of a document from which it is obvious that Varhelyi did arrange a ‘special session’ with Dodik, and only managed to utter a series of meaningless phrases about his bosses publicly supporting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

However, it is quite clear that pro - Russian cadres within the EU, together with Russia, are actively working to break up the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina and that the Putin - Orban strategy extends to the work of EU Enlargement Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi. 

The same Varhelyi for whom ‘official Brussels’ (whatever it may stand for) is the formal boss, while the real bossing over Varhelyi is in the hands of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Russia.

Pro-Russian influence is not only visible in relation to Varhelyi; it reaches as far as the Head of the EU Delegation to BiH, Johann Sattler, who, although he cleverly hides it, has served in Russia for a long time. 

Perhaps because of these ties and his ‘shy’ service in Russia, the Head of the EU Delegation to BiH, just like Dragan Čović and Milorad Dodik, believes that there is no Russian influence in BiH.

‘I haven’t noticed a big increase of Russian influence’, the head of the EU-BiH Delegation, Johann Sattler, said in an interview with Sarajevo's Oslobodjenje last March.

‘Many countries have an interest in this strategically important region of the Western Balkans. But I haven’t noticed the growth of Russian influence.’

It would be naïve to believe that Sattler does not notice any Russian influence.

Apparently, the head of EU Delegation does not see anything controversial in that Russian influence, just as he does not see anything controversial in Victor Orban’s anti-Muslim statements. 

However, the question arises as to how long the head of the EU Delegation to BiH, Johann Sattler, will plot against the interests of the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina, serving Dragan Čović one day and Milorad Dodik another. Sattler must appear before the citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina and clarify that.