Article by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov for Serbian newspaper Politika ahead of the 30th anniversary of Dayton Peace Agreement, December 14, 2025
Thirty years ago today, on December 14, 1995, the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which put an end to a devastating armed conflict, was signed in Paris. It was initialled in Dayton, Ohio, which is why it is widely known as the Dayton Agreement.
To this day, the echoes of this fratricidal civil strife resonate with pain in the hearts of those who lost their homes and their loved ones. The war claimed over 100,000 lives and forced more than two million people to flee their homes. We mourn the numerous victims, regardless of their national, ethnic, or religious affiliation. The ongoing tensions in interethnic and inter-religious relations reflect the tragic past. A significant portion of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) remains a minefield, and innocent people continue to die.
The Dayton Agreement was not a cure-all for every problem or difference that engulfed Bosnian society shortly after the breakup of the former Yugoslavia. It can be mostly credited with the fact that it stopped the bloodshed and made peaceful life possible again.
At the same time, Dayton came as a result of both painstaking international mediation efforts and difficult, determined compromises by the leaders of the warring sides. By making serious concessions, they gained far more – peace and hope for a prosperous future – in return. This approach, which includes achieving mutually acceptable consensus-based solutions, embodies the spirit of Dayton.
The agreement, which laid the foundation for the BiH statehood, enshrined the fundamental principles of equality among the three constituent peoples (Bosniaks, Serbs, and Croats) and the two entities – Republika Srpska (RS) and the Federation of BiH – each enjoying broad constitutional powers. The spheres of competence between different levels of government were neatly defined, and the autonomy of the entities was guaranteed within a strongly decentralised administrative and institutional architecture. A carefully balanced system of checks and balances providing for major nationwide decisions to be taken exclusively on the basis of consensus and compromise among the three Bosnian sides remains at the core of their peaceful coexistence.
As a witness to the signing of the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Russian Federation became one of its international guarantors entrusted with upholding the Dayton principles.
Leading Western countries partnered to ensure Dayton’s implementation and promoting post-conflict settlement. However, driven by self-interest, they almost immediately started pursuing a course aimed at breaking the Dayton structure down. Fierce opposition in Western capitals arose in response to Republika Srpska’s consistent defence of its legitimate rights and special autonomous status, as well as its resistance to plans to drag Bosnia and Herzegovina into NATO against the will of its peoples. The RS capital, Banja Luka, has employed and continues to employ exclusively the mechanisms provided by the Peace Agreement. Meanwhile, the West launched a multi-tiered campaign against the Serbs, aiming to restructure the country through unitarisation and by stripping Serbs and Croats of their Dayton-granted rights.
Under the pretext of ensuring the functionality of the BiH state apparatus, a “civic concept” is being imposed on it, which is intended to water down the identity of the constituent peoples. The real goal is to create circumstances under which political elites from only one of the three peoples could freely implement an externally dictated agenda to the detriment of the interests of the other Bosnian parties. Such ventures have profoundly negative implications for the region. That reminds me of the fact that unilateral declaration of independence by the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina in circumvention of the Bosnian Serbs’ opinion triggered the civil war.
The Office of the High Representative was among the principal sources of instability in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Initially designed as an auxiliary mechanism of international oversight over civilian aspects of the settlement, it gradually became a puppet body, allowing Western powers to interfere almost without constraints in BiH’s internal affairs. Instead of its direct Dayton function, which is to facilitate dialogue among the Bosnian parties, the High Representatives, all of them representing the Western community, are wreaking legal havoc in a sovereign state. They deliberately provoke domestic political turbulence to justify the need for continued external control over BiH. Meanwhile, responsibility for the crisis is baselessly shifted onto Republika Srpska.
They came out in true colours after the secret “appointment” of retired German politician Christian Schmidt as High Representative which took place even without attempting to maintain the appearance of legality in violation of every procedure in the book. This is very much in the spirit of the infamous rules-based order. Legally void “resolutions” by the self-appointed High Representative, who lacks a UN Security Council mandate, contradict democratic principles and cause irreparable damage to intra-Bosnian dialogue.
There’s no doubt that the immediate and unconditional closure of the High Representative’s Office is the first step towards normalisation in Bosnia and Herzegovina. This much was clear 20 years ago when the international community made a principled decision to this end in 2006. In the 21st century, the existence of such a colonial tool in a sovereign UN member state is inconceivable. It’s high time for the peoples of BiH to gain true sovereignty and independence, and to determine their own future and the future of their state. Western actors oppose the abolition of external governance as best they can.
Moreover, in an attempt to bypass the key role of the UN Security Council in stabilisation processes in BiH, the West continuously seeks to privatise the settlement issue, creating “monitoring” formats that are alternative to the UN Security Council and dampen dissenting voices.
What is happening in Bosnia and Herzegovina is by no means an isolated example of disregard for international law. Similar cases include the Kiev regime and its European patrons in Berlin and Paris blocking the implementation of the Minsk Package of Measures approved by the UN Security Council.
For many years now, Western patrons of Pristina have been ignoring the provisions of UN Security Council Resolution 1244, which is basic to Kosovo settlement and guarantees Serbia’s territorial integrity. By unilaterally recognising the self-declared “independence” of Kosovo, they continue to encourage mayhem perpetrated by the Pristina government, including steps to form an illegal Kosovo-Albanian “army.” They initiate military alliances in which Pristina participates on equal footing with sovereign states, creating dangerous dynamics in military buildup and shifting the balance of power in the Balkans. This also constitutes a direct violation of Dayton agreements, primarily those set out in Annex 1-A On the Military Aspects of the Peace Settlement and Annex 1-B On Regional Stabilisation.
We are convinced that only on the international – Dayton – legal platform can durable interethnic reconciliation in Bosnia and Herzegovina be achieved, ensuring stability in the Balkans at large. Any changes to Dayton Accords can only be made on the basis of consensual decisions independently adopted by all peoples of Bosnia and Herzegovina through mutually respectful dialogue, without external interference and strictly in accordance with established constitutional procedures.
As a permanent member of the UN Security Council and a responsible participant in the Bosnian settlement, Russia consistently and firmly supports the Dayton Agreement and its core principles of equality among the three constituent peoples and the two entities with broad practical powers. We call on both the international community and the Bosnian parties to uphold Dayton in the interest of successful and sustainable development of Bosnia and Herzegovina, its entities, and prosperity and well-being of all its citizens, as well as robust security in the Balkans
/Argumentum.al
