The president of the Russian parliament's upper house, Valentina Matviyenko, said in Sarajevo on Monday that her country supported Bosnia and Herzegovina and its sovereignty, and accused the United States and other Western countries of intolerable interventionism against Russia and other countries.
Matviyenko’s address to the House of Peoples had sharp anti-Western tones.
The Russian official, who is on a two-day official visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina, told the Bosnian deputies that their country could always count on Russia’s support, and that Bosnia and Herzegovina should define its policies on its own.
She said that the Dayton peace agreement was the alpha and omega of the functioning of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
That should remain untouched, she said, adding that Russia did not see any need to change the Dayton peace agreement, and especially not if such requests come from outside the country.
She confirmed that Moscow wanted the Office of the High Representative in the country to close down as soon as possible and opposed any policy that forced Bosnia and Herzegovina to choose between the EU and Russia.
Russia did not impose anything on anyone, and it categorically refuses interference in other countries’ internal affairs, said Matviyenko, who chairs the Russian Parliament’s Federation Council, the body representing the interest.
However, Matviyenko confirmed that establishing deeper ties with Southeast European countries was one of the priorities of the Russia’s European policy.
“This is a very difficult period in which the USA and its allies are trying to decide the world’s fate,” Matviyenko said, adding that Russia opposed such a policy, which was the reason it has been exposed to a merciless propaganda war.
“Regardless of what happens, attempts are made to accuse Russia and lies are being used,” Matviyenko said in the context of the conflict with Great Britain over the Skripal case, and the disputes over the use of chemical weapons in Syria.
“All those attempts are in vain, Russia will not give up on its principled position because we cannot once again allow an illegal invasion like the one in Iraq and Libya or a case such as the bombing of Yugoslavia,” Matviyenko said.
Commenting on the situation in the Balkans, Matviyenko said that Russia cared very much about peace in the region but she criticised Montenegro’s decision to join NATO, describing it as undemocratic and yet another example of “undermining the European security system.”
Attempts are being made to stage the same dangerous experiment in Macedonia as well, she said.
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