Bosnia and Herzegovina

Separatist leader awards Russian president with medal for ‘patriotic concern’ for Bosnia’s Republika Srpska entity.

The UN Security Council agreed unanimously Wednesday to support the renewal of the European peacekeeping force in Bosnia and Herzegovina, although Russia expressed some reservations.

Milorad Dodik, the most powerful Bosnian Serb politician, staged a rally in Banja Luka after the Central Election Commission ordered a recount of ballots in the Republika Srpska entity’s presidential poll, which he claimed to have won.

The European Commission, in its annual reports on Western Balkan states’ progress towards EU membership, offered the prospect of candidate status for Bosnia and urged all countries to press ahead with reforms despite internal political crises.

Republika Srpska entity, citing irregularities during the election process, sparking an angry reaction from Milorad Dodik.

High Representative to Bosnia-Herzegovina Christian Schmidt says he's pleased with the "definite momentum" in the Balkan country since his dramatic election-night intervention to alter and unblock key institutions.

The general elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina were competitive and overall well organised with fundamental freedoms respected during the campaign. However, failed reform efforts, a widespread mistrust in public institutions, and ethnically divisive rhetoric continued to mark the election environment, international observers said in a statement today.

A pre-election standoff between Bosniaks and Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina has taken an ugly turn, with rhetoric from the 1990s war reappearing. Ideally, politicians would make the reforms needed to settle the quarrel but, if not, the internationally appointed high representative should do so. 

Milorad Dodik, the Serb member of Bosnia’s tripartite presidency, filed a criminal complaint against his Bosniak colleague Sefik Dzaferovic for participating in a summit about restoring Ukraine’s control over Russian-annexed Crimea.

A contingent of around two dozen German troops arrived in Bosnia-Herzegovina on August 16 as part of the European Union's nearly two-decade peacekeeping and security mission in the troubled Balkan state, in a move quickly disparaged by Russia's embassy.