SARAJEVO (Reuters) – Russia will respond if Bosnia takes steps to join NATO because Moscow considers it hostile, the Russian embassy in Bosnia said in a statement on Thursday.
Bosnia has long declared integration with NATO and the European Union as strategic goals. But the Bosnian Serbs, led by pro-Russian Milorad Dodik, who currently holds the country’s tripartite presidency, want the country to remain neutral and stay out of the US-led military alliance.
“In the event of a practical rapprochement with Bosnia and Herzegovina and NATO, our country will have to respond to this hostile act,” the embassy said.
It went on to say that NATO’s goal was a ‘fight against Russia’ and that joining NATO would force Sarajevo to take a side in the ‘military-political confrontation’.
Bosnia and Serbia are the only two Western Balkan countries to remain outside NATO after Northern Macedonia joined the alliance last year.
The new Russian ambassador to Bosnia, Igor Kalabuhov, met on Thursday with Zeljko Komsic, the Croatian presidential member who is campaigning for the integration of Bosnia into the alliance.
A statement from Komsic’s office said NATO integration was not a topic for the meeting, but said it was discussing reforms that Bosnia should make in order to move closer to EU membership.
Russia has long maintained its opposition to Bosnia’s accession to NATO.
Sefik Dzaferovic, president of Komsic and Bosniak, refused in December to meet with visiting Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
Reporting by Daria Sito-Sucic; Edited by Alexandra Hudson