Russia stood alone at a UN Security Council session in opposing the appointment of the new High Representative to Bosnia and Herzegovina, German politician Christian Schmidt, while the US representative said the appointment was a "done deal" and that Schmidt would take office on 1 August, Croatian state agency Hina reported on Wednesday.

The UN Security Council on Tuesday discussed Schmidt’s appointment at the request of the Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation, Vasily Nebenzya, who said that all sides in BiH and the UN Security Council should give their consent for Schmidt’s appointment, which, he said, had not happened.

The Peace Implementation Council (PIC), which oversees the work of the Office of the international community’s High Representative to BiH (OHR) and gives guidelines for its work and comprises representatives of leading Western countries, Russia and Turkey, as the representative of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), recently appointed Schmidt to replace Valentin Inzko. Russia opposed the appointment.

Nebenzya repeated Russia’s position in the debate before the Security Council, claiming that forcing Schmidt’s appointment could threaten stability in BiH.

US Deputy Representative to the UN Richard M. Mills said that Schmidt’s appointment was a done deal. He said that PIC consenting to the appointment sufficed and that the Security Council did not have to approve Schmidt’s appointment for him to take office. Other Western diplomats, too, supported the newly-elected High Representative.

BiH Foreign Minister Bisera Turkovic, who also attended the debate and whose attendance was opposed by BiH Presidency Chairman Milorad Dodik, who said she had not been given permission to address the UN Security Council for lack of a common position on the matter, requested that the OHR should continue working as conditions for closing it had not been met yet.

The Serb side in BiH has called for closing the OHR down.