About a dozen cities in the Republika Srpska (RS), one of the two entities in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), have established fraternal relations with cities in the Russian Federation, or cooperation on economic, cultural, or other levels.
The last local community to announce similar cooperation is Milici, in the east of BiH, which was visited on August 9th by the Russian ambassador to BiH, Igor Kalabukhov.
The goal of the cooperation is the exchange of experiences and the provision of professional assistance – while entrusting any responsibilities and functions is prohibited.
What is planned in Milici?
Marko Savic, a member of the SNSD, the ruling party in the RS, said in an interview that this is only the first meeting – and that they are following the “recently signed agreement of the Chamber of Commerce of the RS with Russia”, which refers to the possibility of investing in that BiH entity.
”At this meeting, there weren’t concrete matters related to concrete cooperation, but we proposed the possibilities of cooperation in perspective, and we also expressed the desire to organize business meetings through the Russian embassy and our diplomatic representation in Russia,” Savic stated.
When asked why they are improving cooperation in the wake of the sanctions imposed by the European Union (EU) on Russia, due to the invasion of Ukraine, to which BiH has joined at least declaratively, Savic replies that he “expects a compromise.”
”I deeply believe that this current situation is unsustainable in the long term, I believe that there will be a compromise and a peaceful solution, and then we should see this as an opportunity and open some new perspectives,” Savic believes.
With whom do cities in RS cooperate?
Several larger cities in the RS have cooperation or twinning agreements with Russian municipalities.
Banja Luka, the administrative center of the RS, has signed an agreement on cultural cooperation with Moscow since 2003, and with Lviv in Ukraine since 2005.
The second largest city of the RS, Bijeljina in the northeast of BiH, has been cooperating with Azov, not far from the Russian border with Ukraine, since 2018, RSE reports.
E.Dz.
