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🇷🇸 Serbia /Elections & Politics

Bosnia and Herzegovina foreign minister announces plans to reduce ties with Serbia to a minimum

From N1 Serbia · () Serbian

Translated from Serbian and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources New plan
  • Bosnia and Herzegovina Foreign Minister Elmedin Konaković said most staff would be withdrawn from the country's embassy in Belgrade, leaving the ambassador and consul.
  • Konaković linked the planned reduction in ties to Serbia's handling of the death and funeral of convicted war criminal Ratko Mladić.
  • He said Bosnia and Herzegovina would send diplomatic messages to the European Union and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and seek international support.

Bosnia and Herzegovina plans to reduce its relations with Serbia to the lowest possible level, Foreign Minister Elmedin Konaković said in Sarajevo. He announced that all staff who can be withdrawn will leave the Bosnian embassy in Belgrade, while the ambassador and consul will remain because they are appointed by the country's Presidency.

If I could, I would break off diplomatic relations with Serbia today. What I can do is work to reduce relations to the lowest possible level. I will deny and reduce every communication with them. We will withdraw everyone we can withdraw, and transfer consular work to Zagreb and Podgorica.

· Elmedin KonakovićThe Bosnian foreign minister outlined his planned response toward Serbia.

The consular work would move to Bosnia and Herzegovina's embassies in Zagreb and Podgorica. Konaković said he lacked the authority to recall the ambassador and consul, but could withdraw the rest of the mission. "If I could, I would break off diplomatic relations with Serbia today. What I can do is work to reduce relations to the lowest possible level. I will deny and reduce every communication with them."

He said several diplomatic notes had been drafted and would be sent in sequence. One message would ask the European Union whether it truly respected its principles and protected the commitments imposed on Bosnia and Herzegovina. He also planned telephone calls and possibly visits, and said a letter to members of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation would carry a specific message.

Does the EU really respect its principles? Does it protect what it obliged us to follow?

· Elmedin KonakovićHe said Bosnia and Herzegovina would challenge the European Union over its response.

Konaković described the day as depressing and difficult, blaming what he called Serbia's glorification of a convicted war criminal. He criticized the Serbian authorities, particularly President Aleksandar Vučić and his associates, and said the treatment of Mladić's remains included a government plane collecting them from The Hague and military honors. He also pointed to a message displayed at a Red Star and Partizan match, "Straight to Potočari," calling it a final alarm. Konaković said Vučić was taking Serbia back to the 1990s, but insisted Bosnia and Herzegovina's situation was not the same as in 1990.

What we are seeing today in Serbia was not expected when Dayton was signed: that we would once again see the glorification of war criminals.

· Elmedin KonakovićHe criticized Serbia's handling of Ratko Mladić's death and funeral.
About this summary

Originally published by N1 Serbia in Serbian. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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