SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) — The
European Union urged Russia on Friday to leave the Balkans out of its dispute
with the bloc over Ukraine, and let the region proceed on its path toward EU
and NATO memberships.
The country's
Bosniacs and Croats tend to look westward, but Bosnian Serbs maintain close
ties with Russia ,
object NATO membership and have obstructed EU-requested reforms.
After meetings on
Friday with Bosnia's leaders in Sarajevo, Federica Mogherini, the European
Union's chief foreign affairs official, said her overall impression is that
"the people of Bosnia-Herzegovina are more than ready to have the country
moving toward the European Union," and that Russia's disputes with the EU
should not interfere with this process.
There are
"tensions" between Europe and Russia , she said, but both sides
should "find ways of cooperation and not confrontation."
"And for sure
it would be a good idea to keep the western Balkans out of this kind of
dynamics," Mogherini added.
For the first time
in 14 years, Russia last
month abstained from the vote when the U.N. Security Council extended the
mandate of the EU-led military presence in Bosnia because the declaration
mentioned the country's European and NATO future too often.
"We did not
want the resolution to be used as an instrument to advance objectives that we
were not part of and that is Bosnia-Herzegovina becoming part of NATO," or
the European Union, Russia's ambassador to Bosnia, Petr Ivancov, told the
Associated Press in an interview. Bosnians should decide themselves, but
"there is clearly a lack of consensus in Bosnia-Herzegovina with regard to
its Euro-Atlantic future," he said.
Mogherini denied
those claims and said all of Bosnia 's
political leaders on Friday showed the political will to proceed with the EU
reforms.
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