Bosnia and Herzegovina's Defence Minister Zukan Helez says that his country will certainly join NATO and that politicians who do not want this to happen will not be able to stop this process.

Speaking in an interview with the Sarajevo-based Oslobodenje daily on Friday, Helez said there is strong support within NATO for Bosnia and Herzegovina to join the alliance.

“People from NATO are willing to help Bosnia and Herzegovina to be admitted to the alliance as soon as possible. These politicians with negative rhetoric will not be asked about it. They can only talk, but we are doing our job, and BiH will be a NATO member,” the defence minister said.

He said that the new government is ready to strengthen the defence sector, adding that this is the first time in years that the state budget provides for an increase in defence spending, which totals around €45 million for this year.

The increase in the defence allocation was opposed by politicians from the Serb-dominated entity of Republika Srpska and its president, Milorad Dodik, as the most vocal opponent of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s NATO membership bid.

Bosnia  has been granted a NATO membership action plan, but other than the obligation to submit annual plans for reforms and their implementation no time frame has been set that would lead to full membership.

Dodik insists that the country should remain militarily neutral, and considers NATO membership acceptable only if Serbia joins the alliance.

Since its invasion of Ukraine, Russia has also become openly opposed to the possibility of BiH joining NATO. Its ambassador in Sarajevo, Igor Kalabukhov, has threatened that in that case, Moscow will take appropriate countermeasures.

Kalabukhov said earlier this week that Moscow still regards Bosnia and Herzegovina as a friendly country, calling for closer ties between the two countries. At the same time, he stressed that Moscow has the right to take “both symmetrical and asymmetrical measures” in response to any hostile actions against Russia.