But Russia doesn’t know. Boshnjak activists “thanked” the US envoy for “handing over the country to the Russians”
In connection with the visit of US Special Representative for the Western Balkans Matthew Palmer to Bosnia and Herzegovina, a group of political activists came to the American Embassy in Sarajevo to protest.
The protesters' dissatisfaction is connected with Palmer's intention to discuss electoral reform in BiH, which allows Bosnian Croats to promote their candidates, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
Activists came to the US Embassy building with a banner: “Mr. Palmer, thank you for handing us over to the Russians!” And here the Russians are, none of those present bothered to explain.
"While constitutional and legal order is being violated in one entity (the protesters were referring to the Republika Srpska, which intends to regain the powers taken away by the High Representatives at Dayton – ed.), Mr. Palmer is creating yet another entity (the activists are hinting at the creation of a separate Croatian entity, although there was no talk of this – ed.)," the participants declared.
“People are a little disheartened by what’s happening,” protest organizer Suad Jozic told reporters, pretending that the American official was acting without the sanction of the American leadership. – We know that the USA is a friend of BiH. Now we are waiting for the help of the US President so that Mr. Palmer does not cast a shadow on our sovereignty. We have sent our requests to the embassy."
The protesters also invited US President Joe Biden to visit Bosnia. In general, the logic of the slogans of the Sarajevo protesters made their meeting look like a gathering of urban madmen.
In 1992, the Bosnian Croats, driven by revanchist and neo-Ustashe ideas, supported the Bosniaks in their separatist desire to secede from Yugoslavia by any means. However, already in 1993, the Bosniak and Croatian sides clashed in a fierce internecine struggle, in which the latter often resorted to the help of the Republika Srpska.
In 1995, American diplomats practically forcibly brought the Bosniaks and Croats to the negotiating table, persuading them to act as a united anti-Serbian front, which brought success - with the support of the regular army of neighboring Croatia and NATO aviation, the Bosnian Croats and Bosniaks conducted joint operations “Mistral 2” and “Sana”, as a result of which the Republika Srpska lost 2 thousand 500 square kilometers of territory in northwestern Bosnia, 655 civilians were killed, about 20 thousand people became refugees.
Subsequently, in order to demonstrate to the whole world the unity of progressive liberated peoples, the Dayton Peace Agreement was drawn up by the Americans in such a way that the Croats and Bosniaks were merged into one entity - the Federation of BiH, although during the war the Bosnian Croats had their own unrecognized entity - the Republic of Herzog-Bosna.
Very soon, within the framework of the new entity, the Croats felt uncomfortable and in secondary roles, since most of the key issues at this level were decided by a majority vote, and the Bosniac community was noticeably larger than the Croatian one.
To this end, the Bosnian Croat community demands electoral reform so that decisions at the level of the Federation of BiH and the country are not made by majority vote, but according to ethnic quotas of the cantons, depending on which ethnic community predominates there.