Over the past ten years, the Russian Federation has been trying to destabilize Bosnia, including by supporting the electoral reform proposals by the Croat Democratic Union (HDZ BiH). Bosnia's Republika Srpska has become a kind of Donbas, a breakaway entity that will provide resistance to NATO and the EU, David Pettigrew, a professor of philosophy at Southern Connecticut State University told N1.

He recalled earlier statements by the Russian Embassy in Bosnia saying that they do not see Bosnia and Herzegovina as one state but as a set of entities.

“The illegal invasion of Ukraine, of course, raises our concerns about implications for Bosnia. This makes the admission to the EU of existential priority,” Pettigrew said.

He added that Russia had vetoed a UN resolution on genocide in 2010.

Asked whether the Ukrainian crisis could spill over into Bosnia and the Western Balkans, he said it was important to prepare and have a vision for the future.

“I think it is most practical to admit Bosnia to the European Union immediately. It’s one way to address the concerns we all feel. It is important to come under the auspices of NATO and move towards constitutional reform,” Pettigrew said.

Speaking about negotiations on changes to the Election Law, he said he would be concerned if they succeeded because he could not understand the motives for supporting a process that would establish nationalist parties.