EU pressuring Balkan state to end visa-free travel for Russians – Moscow
Brussels is pressuring Bosnia and Herzegovina to end its visa-free regime with Russia, the Russian Embassy in Sarajevo has told the newspaper Izvestia.
The Balkan nation applied for EU membership in 2016 and gained candidate status in 2022. Accession talks have been moving slowly, with foreign policy alignment among the hurdles.
Bosnia maintains visa-free travel with Russia and has not imposed sanctions on Moscow over the Ukraine conflict, largely due to opposition from Milorad Dodik, the now former longtime leader of Republika Srpska and member of Bosnia’s tripartite presidency.
Under a 2013 agreement, Russian citizens can stay in Bosnia visa-free for up to 30 days within a 60-day period.
“During the process of European integration, Brussels is exerting politicized pressure on [the Bosnia] authorities to cancel the visa-free regime with Russia in order to comply with so-called European standards,” the Russian Embassy in Sarajevo said in a statement on Saturday. It argued that Bosnia “has the sovereign right to determine its foreign policy priorities,” and warned that Moscow will respond if Sarajevo radically changes its visa policy.
Tomasz Zdechowski, a member of the European Parliament, confirmed to the outlet that candidate countries must align their foreign policy with Brussels, adding that maintaining visa-free travel with Russia could jeopardize accession.
“A candidate country cannot have one foot in Moscow and the other in Brussels,” he stated. “Integration into the EU requires a clear geopolitical choice.”
Republika Srpska, the Serb-majority autonomous region, remains the main opponent of changing visa conditions for Russians. Dodik opposed sanctions on Moscow and Bosnia’s integration into NATO and the EU, calling instead for closer ties with Serbia and Russia.
Dodik’s supporters suggest his stance is the reason he has faced prosecution in Bosnia. A Sarajevo court earlier this year sentenced him to prison following a dispute with Bosnia’s central government. The court also barred Dodik from politics, and he recently agreed to step aside, with new regional elections scheduled for November.
Despite Dodik’s resignation, Srdjan Mazalica, a Bosnian parliament member from Republika Srpska, told Izvestia that the authorities in Banja Luka will not allow the visa-free regime to be scrapped.
