UK military experts cannot enter Bosnia legally, says Bosnian Serb leader

BELGRADE, Serbia

The UK military experts will not enter Bosnia-Herzegovina legally, a Serb member of Bosnia’s tripartite presidency said on Thursday.

Milorad Dodik's remarks came after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that UK military specialists will be sent to Bosnia-Herzegovina to reinforce the NATO mission and promote stability and security in the country.

"Apart from the illegal high representative, Bosnia-Herzegovina will also receive illegal so-called military experts, all under the pretext of alleged secessionism and the so-called malignant Russian influence," said Dodik.

A UK counter-disinformation expert will help Bosnia-Herzegovinian armed forces block Russian and other efforts to sow mistrust and undermine democracy in the country and region, while a strategic defense adviser will help them develop a modern, representative armed force, said a British government statement.

In addition, the UK will provide £750,000 ($908,000) to establish a cybersecurity center of excellence within the University of Sarajevo, according to the statement.

Dodik also said the establishment of the center for the “so-called cybersecurity is just another name for the establishment of a British intelligence point”.

"They would like to cure their centuries-old frustration with the Russians in Bosnia and Herzegovina, where almost everyone had played a role, trained, and filled their biographies. Nothing new from the British," said Dodik.

Political dispute

Bosnia-Herzegovina is currently embroiled in a political conflict between Bosniaks and Serbs living in the country.

The dispute erupted after Valentin Inzko, then-high representative, amended the criminal code in July 2021 to ban the denial of genocide and the glorification of war criminals.

Bosnian Serb lawmakers in response said they would boycott the country's institutions.

A Serb member of Bosnia's joint Presidency, Milorad Dodik, denounced the amendments saying: "We will not live in a country where someone can impose a law by simply publishing it on his website."

One of the major current issues in the country is a bill aimed at transferring the powers of the nationally authorized Bosnia-Herzegovina Medicines and Medical Equipment Agency to a new institution to be established within Republika Srpska, one of Bosnia and Herzegovina's two entities.

The steps have been criticized internationally for being motivated by Moscow as well as for violating the 1995 Dayton Accords and undermining the country's Constitution.