Bosnia Presidency Condemns Arms Sales to Ukraine

Weeks of heated debate and the recent resignation of Bosnia's foreign trade minister have prompted Bosnia's tripartite presidency to say it opposed planned exports of ammunition to war-torn Ukraine.

"The export of weapons and military equipment from Bosnia and Herzegovina to Ukraine at this moment is not in the foreign policy interests of BiH because it does not contribute to regional security, stability and current international diplomatic efforts aimed at achieving a peaceful solution of crisis in Ukraine," the Presidency said on Wednesday.

The statement followed the resignation on January 22 of Boris Tucic, the Foreign Trade and Economic Relations Minister,who had been in charge of approving the export and sale of ammunition from a Bosnian company to Ukrainian authorities.

As the Presidency's remarks are advsory rather than binding,it is unclear whether the Ministry of Foreign Trade will accepted the Presidency' wordand scrap the prepared arms deal.

The deal, worth some 5 million euro, was in the hands of UNIS, one of the biggest ammunition producers in the country.

Before the 1992-5 war, Bosnia had a significant arms industry, which remained active even during and then after the war.

According to the Foreign Trade Chamber, in the first ten months of 2014, Bosnia exported arms worth around 36 million euro. In the same period in 2013 sales were worth some 25 million euro.

Although the export of ammunition to Ukraine was not illegal, Bosnian Serb politicians, who champion close ties with Russia, oppose the sales.

Milorad Dodik, president of the Serb-dominated entity in Bosnia, Republika Srpska, and leader of its ruling party, the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats, SNSD, has met Russian President Vladimir...