Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Saturday accused the West of developing a “criminal policy” in the Balkans, specifically in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo.
The accusation was made in an interview with Serbian public television RTRS a few days before an official visit to that country, one of the few in Europe that does not adhere to sanctions against Russia.
According to Lavrov, the West wants to ban the peoples of Bosnia and Herzegovina from “their own culture, their traditions and their heritage.”
The head of Russian diplomacy reiterated that Russia does not recognize the legitimacy of the high international representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina, the German Christian Schmidt.
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“The West wants to turn Bosnia and Herzegovina into a base for NATO expansion into the Balkans,” he said.
On Monday and Tuesday, the Russian foreign minister will visit Serbia, where he will meet with the president of this country, the holder of the portfolio of foreign affairs, the head of the National Assembly and the patriarch of Serbia, named on Friday. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at a press conference.
