RUSSIAN AMBASSADOR AT EMERGENCY UN SECURITY COUNCIL SAYS REGION IS A EUROPEAN POWDER KEG

Development:

>After closed-door consultations at the UN Security Council regarding the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina following the final verdict concerning Milorad Dodik, Russia’s Deputy UN Ambassador, Dmitry Polyanskiy, admitted there were divergent views among Council members. Russia initiated these consultations, with China’s backing.

>Polyanskiy said the issue “could become heated if nothing is done.”

>He emphasized that Dodik, the President of Republika Srpska (one of BiH’s two entities), was being prosecuted because of decisions by the so-called “illegal” High Representative Christian Schmidt, “illegal” in Polyanskiy’s view, because he was neither approved by RS nor the Security Council.

>He acknowledged tensions during the meeting, stating, “It got pretty heated at one point,”

>They warned that Schmidt’s actions could lead the state into potential trouble, which, Polyanskiy asserted, is already happening.

>He warned that “the situation with Dodik threatens the stability of BiH,” and that’s why they chose to inform all Security Council members of the developments. Russia had issued a statement earlier through Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, saying it would “use ALL tools at its disposal to prevent a rise in tension in BiH.” The Russian Embassy in BiH also released a statement warning that “the survival of BiH as a single state is at stake,” calling the region a “European powder keg.”

Dodik has been found guilty in court and banned from politics for 6 years and has started talking about a referendum and hes known for seccesionistic rhetoric.
To put it into perspective, the war started here with a referendum. Bosniaks and Croats voted for to leave yugoslavia and the vote was more than 50% of the total population because 95% serbs abstained from voting.