How serious are Zelensky’s allegations that Russia is preparing a new conflict in the Balkans? What role would Milorad Dodik and Republika Srpska play in this? Are threats of secession an increasingly realistic option, or are they still in the domain of political populism? How much does the West mitigate or aggravate the situation with sanctions against the officials of Republika Srpska? Dušan Janjić from the Belgrade Forum for Ethnic Relations spoke about this in Dan at N1 TV.
Janjić says that it is necessary to monitor who the American administration has imposed sanctions on and that, as he says, Dodik should now be dealt with by the judicial institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
“The West will not go only to Dodik and we should not expect that, and according to everything we read in Biden’s points before the elections, listened to in Congress, in the British Parliament. They want BiH to remain a country of peace, for there to be no armed conflicts, for the situation to stabilize and for democratic changes to be created. Dodik is a serious problem here, but one of the problems is also a specific problem due to ties with Russia (…) There are also other players in FBiH and RS. We should not expect that the West will tighten the belt, pressure will be exerted, which is already being done by putting people around Dodik on new lists, so that the judiciary of BiH shows that it exists and does its job, and that politicians from all over BiH stop putting pressure on the judiciary,” pointed out Janjić.
Also, Dodik will not hesitate to cause conflict situations, explains Janjić, and this is according to Russia’s dictates, and in this regard, Dodik should be understood as a serious security risk in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
“If, as I would say, he loses his mind to activate the security risk, those are parts of the armed units that are under his direct responsibility, police forces, connections with organized crime, regional and others. Many other criminal and terrorist groups could also give and find interest in that help. If indeed Moscow was preparing the explosion that Zelensky is talking about, it concerns Kosovo and Bosnia and Herzegovina. It wouldn’t have done it without Islamic Jihad. There is no explosion in the Balkans if you raise only one nation, one part of that nation, because we know from inertia, memory, history, suffering in ’90 year immediately starts organizing all against one”, says Janjić.
Janjić points out that Zelensky’s s warnings should be taken seriously, especially since we are in a period when the EU and the USA are in the election race and now they should not lose focus on the events in Europe, especially since Ukraine is dealing with all the problems alone.
“I see it as his strategic warning of something that could happen,” Janjić said.
