Bosnia and Herzegovina officials refused to meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who is on a working visit. On Tuesday, December 15, RIA Novosti reported.
As noted, the meeting of the Russian Foreign Minister with three members of the Presidium of Bosnia and Herzegovina – Milorad Dodik, Shefik Jaferovic and Zeljko Komšić – was supposed to take place on the morning of December 15, but two of the Bosnian politicians, Jaferovic and Komšić, refused it.
In an official commentary on this, they explained their decision by disagreement with a number of statements by Lavrov, which he voiced the day before, on December 14, regarding the Dayton Accords. According to the members of the presidium, the words of the Russian minister are contrary to the position of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
On December 14, speaking at a press conference following a meeting with Serbian member of the Presidium of Bosnia and Herzegovina Milorad Dodik, Lavrov noted that currently some Western countries are trying to destroy the architecture of the Dayton Accords, which could lead to serious negative consequences. As the minister emphasized, all problems arising in the country should be solved in accordance with these agreements and without any outside interference.
The Dayton Accords were negotiated in November 1995 at an American military base near the city of Dayton and ended the 1992-1995 civil war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In December of the same year, the presidents of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Serbia (from the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia as part of Serbia and Montenegro) Alia Izetbegovic, Franjo Tudjman and Slobodan Milosevic signed this document in Paris. Russia, the USA, Great Britain, Germany and France acted as guarantors of the agreement.
