Minister of Foreign Affairs Of Bosnia and Herzegovina Elmedin Konaković announced on Tuesday that two employees of the Embassy Of Serbia in Sarajevo were declared undesirable persons and that they must leave Bosnia and Herzegovina within 48 hours.
At an extraordinary press conference, the second in two days, Konaković said that, in accordance with the rulebook on declaring undesirable persons, he made the decision to declare Milan Dulanović, the military attaché at the Embassy of Serbia, and Darko Maksimović, the adviser to the BIA representative at that embassy, as undesirable.
As he stated, their diplomatic cards will be cancelled, and Konaković said that they were expelled in accordance with the powers of Bosnia and Herzegovina and that they are obliged to respect the laws of that country.
The minister also announced the possibility of reducing the number of employees at the Embassy of Serbia in Sarajevo. He explained that he has the authority to determine the systematization of the embassy and that he is currently considering how many people are needed to work in it.
"Image 'Potočari Direction' is something that is above all these questions. It is better for our crazy people not to stop in that Belgrade, in that Serbia, with that Vučić. We are reducing the number of our people in the Embassy there," Konaokvic said.
Konaković also showed the receipt from the Embassy of Serbia, which confirmed that the embassy had received the notification about the expulsion of the two diplomats.
Speaking about the political situation, Konaković assessed that Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić was the organizer of the events that took place in Serbia in recent days, including, as he stated, controversial messages from the Red Star - Partizan match.
He said that BiH believes that the European Union has corrected its first statement on the situation, but that the second reaction is still insufficiently clear.
Konaković also announced that Bosnia and Herzegovina had given up on signing the joint declaration on good-neighborly relations and regional cooperation, which was supposed to be signed in Montenegro on October 1, due to its relations with Serbia.
According to him, the consent to sign the declaration was withdrawn because, while he considers the current situation abnormal, such a document would not be appropriate. As he added, the hosts from Montenegro have already been informed about the decision.
Photo: Tanjug/SRNA/Snežana LepirZeljka Cvijanovic
Cvijanović: Konaković was "struck by rage"
Serbian member of the BiH Presidency, Željka Cvijanović, reacted to Konaković's decision by saying that the consent for the denial of residence is given by the Council of Ministers of BiH.
"First, as regards the allegedly expelled members of the Serbian Embassy in Bosnia and Herzegovina, one of them has expired and, as far as we know, has already left Bosnia and Herzegovina. As for the military attachés, the consent for their arrival is not given by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, but by the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the same applies when it comes to denying residence," wrote Cvijanović on the social network X.
She stated that for the procedure of denying hospitality, it is necessary to have evidence for the reasons on the basis of which such a decision is made.
"I will ask the competent institutions for information on whether there are reasons for this or whether Konaković was struck by rage out of helplessness," Cvijanović wrote.
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