Model for Kosovo and CIS

The agreement signed 15 years ago remains a model of peacekeeping

Sunday marks the 15th anniversary of the Dayton Peace Agreement on Bosnia and Herzegovina. Initialed on November 21, 1995 at an American air base near Dayton (Ohio), it became the first and, perhaps, the only truly serious, well-prepared multilateral document on the Balkan settlement since the collapse of Yugoslavia.

After three weeks of negotiations, the late leaders of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Yugoslavia Alija Izetbegovic, Franjo Tudjman and Slobodan Milosevic, in the presence of diplomats from Russia, the United States and the European Union, certified an agreement on the separation of two state-forming entities within the former Yugoslav republic - the Muslim-Croatian Federation (51 % of territory) and Republika Srpska (49%). A collective presidium consisting of a Muslim, a Serb and a Croat was created as the highest supranational body. A national parliament and several central ministries were introduced in charge of foreign affairs, foreign economic relations, finance, justice and refugee problems. In the highest bodies of power, representatives of each people received the right of veto. The Muslim-Croat Federation and the Republika Srpska had their own presidents, parliaments, governments, armies and police. The ceremonial signing of the document took place in Paris on December 14, 1995.

“In Dayton, a unique and not the worst model of government structure was created in those conditions,” Konstantin Nikiforov, director of the Institute of Slavic Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, explained to Vremya Novostey. In the 1990s, he was part of Russian President Boris Yeltsin's speechwriting team. “Formally, a unified Bosnia and Herzegovina became not even a confederation, but something even more amorphous, but this made it possible to stop the war, which became the most destructive in Europe in the last half century and in which over 200 thousand people died. Moreover, for 15 years the international community has not been able to develop other workable principles for solving the problem of the self-proclaimed states - both Kosovo and those existing in the post-Soviet space,” the expert emphasized.

Russia was represented at the Dayton negotiations by First Deputy Foreign Minister (and future minister) Igor Ivanov, the United States by President Bill Clinton's special envoy Richard Holbrooke, and the European Union by the current head of the Swedish Foreign Ministry, Carl Bildt. The American side prepared a preliminary package of documents. “The three-week negotiation marathon was marked by the activity of American diplomacy,” recalls Konstantin Nikiforov. “The work lasted from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m., but the Americans worked even harder, holding their daily final work meetings until 1 a.m.”

According to our interlocutor, Russia managed to “preserve its face and its presence in Bosnia and Herzegovina. According to Russian-American agreements signed simultaneously, two or three Russian battalions were to participate in the upcoming peacekeeping operation independently, but in the area of ​​​​responsibility of the American division and under the tactical control of its commander.” In June 1999, Russian paratroopers from Bosnia and Herzegovina made a forced march to the Kosovo Slatina airfield. But in general, according to our expert, “the presence of the Russians turned out to be not as significant as that of NATO.”

In recent years, the European Union and NATO have been increasingly trying to revise the Dayton Agreement under the pretext of bringing Bosnia and Herzegovina into line with pan-European standards. But this idea faces stiff opposition from the Bosnian Serbs. “Those who dream of a centralized Bosnia or hope to eliminate the powers of the Republika Srpska under the pretext of European integration should know that we will never, under any circumstances, give up our autonomy,” said, taking office on November 15 as President of the Republika Srpska, its former prime minister is 51-year-old Milorad Dodik. According to him, he will defend this position “even at the cost of non-entry into the European Union.” “I am a supporter of Bosnia, but it is only possible with the Republika Srpska and its powers established by the Dayton Peace Agreement,” he stressed.

Petr ISKENDEROV