Bosnien und Herzegowina

The EU's foreign policy chief issued a thinly veiled warning to Russia on Wednesday (16 March) to cease meddling in Bosnia, amid growing concerns about instability to Europe's south with a war already raging to the east, in Ukraine.

NATO and the EU are beefing up the peacekeeping force in Bosnia from 600 to 1,100 amid a 'deterioration of the security situation internationally' – in the Balkans as well as Ukraine.

Those pushing the Bosnian Serb entity Republika Srpska to have its own army and other institutions risked seeing the country "fall apart in pieces," EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell said Monday (21 February).

Whilst the world's eyes are firmly fixed on Ukraine, EU peacekeeping troops in Bosnia are "at high readiness" in another test of Europe's geopolitical standing.

The Bosnian court confirmed an indictment charging nine former soldiers and policemen with committing a crime against humanity in the village of Zijemlje near Mostar, where around 100 Bosniaks, including children, were killed in 1992.

Turkey’s President Erdogan pledges support for Bosnia’s territorial integrity amid fears about Bosnian Serb secession.

Authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and in neighbouring Serbia, must condemn and refrain from any advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred, the UN human rights office, OHCHR, said on Friday. 

The European Union has threatened Bosnia-Herzegovina's Serb-dominated entity with sanctions and a reduction in assistance if its leadership continues to fuel political paralysis and division in the Balkan country. … On January 5, the United States imposed new sanctions on Dodik for corruption and threatening the stability and territorial integrity of Bosnia.

The United States on Wednesday announced sanctions on Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik and current and former officials, adding pressure against their secessionist efforts threatening Bosnia-Herzegovina's fragile union.

Serb lawmakers voted on Friday (10 December) to start work on pulling their autonomous Serb Republic out of Bosnia’s armed forces, judiciary and tax system, in a non-binding motion meant to pave the way for secession from Bosnia. Serb lawmakers voted on Friday (10 December) to start work on pulling their autonomous Serb Republic out of Bosnia’s armed forces, judiciary and tax system, in a non-binding motion meant to pave the way for secession from Bosnia.