ZAKHAROVA: DISMANTLING DAYTON BiH WOULD CALL ITS FUTURE INTO QUESTION

BELGRADE, SEPTEMBER 15 /SRNA/ - The Russian Federation clearly and unequivocally condemns calls by certain political actors in BiH to reconsider the Dayton Peace Agreement and, as a guarantor of that agreement, firmly advocates its observance, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

"There is a specific reason why we condemn such calls. It is because the hypothetical dismantling of the international legal foundation of modern-day BiH established by Dayton would not only call its future into question, but would also have dangerous consequences for the entire Western Balkans region," Zakharova said. Speaking about Russia’s assessment of threats from Sarajevo related to the funeral of General Ratko Mladić, including the intention to seek the termination of the Dayton Agreement in order to abolish Republika Srpska, as well as why the West remains silent about such threats, Zakharova stressed that peace is simply not needed by the collective West. She pointed out that what is particularly worrying is that this type of provocation is taking place with the West directly turning a blind eye to it, and even simply encouraging it. "Why does it do this? The reason is clear, because the West, or the collective West, as we can see from the examples of the Middle East and Ukraine, does not need peace," Zakharova said, adding that they pay for bloodshed in various regions of the world. Zakharova noted that the Balkans had bled for years, and terribly so, and that the crimes from that period had still not received an appropriate assessment. "Just to mention black-market organ trafficking also, which also took place in the territory of the Balkans under the patronage of the West. All of this still needs to be assessed," she said. She stressed that it is obvious that, from the standpoint of the Western mentality, the current peace can, and even must, be sacrificed for the sake of new geopolitical games, which are essentially driven by huge flows of money, arms exports, black-market organ trafficking again, opportunities related to resources and other interests. "All of this is what we can now see in Ukraine," Zakharova said at a briefing, RT Balkan reported. She said that the Russian Federation, as one of the international guarantors of the Dayton Peace Agreement, firmly advocates its observance and will continue to consistently insist on preserving its fundamental principles, including the equality of the three constituent peoples of the country and the two entities with extremely broad powers, as established by the peace agreement. "And, of course, we call for an end to such irresponsible and belligerent rhetoric, for attention to be focused on constructive cooperation based on mutual respect in the interests of the well-being of all peoples of BiH and, of course, on good-neighborly relations and peace in the Western Balkans," Zakharova added.