Igor Kalabukhov, the Russian Ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) told that Russia must react to the growing approach of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to the borders of his country and that BiH citizens must know what NATO membership means.
In the show Telering, Kalabukhov tried to explain what it means that BiH’s approach to NATO membership will be a hostile step to which Russia will have to react.
“When some people talk about Russia, they think in an abstract way, that it is an abstraction. Russia – that means 140 million citizens. And those who now think of an act of hostility in terms of BiH’s membership in NATO, and there is no consensus on this regard in BiH, those people who have been in the war and have military experience, they need to know when you go to an enemy bloc, that also means some steps by the other side, ” he stated.
He added that Romania and Bulgaria have joined NATO and that NATO’s infrastructure is now present there, as well as in other countries, which is now approaching Russia’s borders.
”Russia’s leadership must react to a country’s membership in the NATO pact, which is now the enemy, as we say. We must consider this fact, bringing NATO infrastructure closer to our borders. We must react in a military-technical sense. Russia’s position on the NATO enlargement is well known for a while,” said Kalabukhov.
When asked what the Russian interest in BiH is, the Russian diplomat answered:
“When people talk about NATO membership, they only think of positive things. Russia’s primary interest in BiH is for the people of BiH to decide for themselves about their internal and foreign policy priorities. That is our main interest,” he said, adding that NATO membership is not easy and that it carries numerous obligations, Klix
E.Dz.
