Russia and China spoke at the UN against the appointed representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina

The Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the UN, Vasily Nebenzia, said that the candidacy of German diplomat Christian Schmidt did not pass the necessary approval

The Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the UN, Vasily Nebenzia, said that the Security Council of the world Organization cannot consider German diplomat Christian Schmidt as a High Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), because his candidacy did not pass the necessary approval.
"I would like to make a reservation that we do not consider German citizen Christian Schmidt as a High Representative. The UN Security Council did not give the appropriate approval for his confirmation in this position," Nebenzia said at a meeting of the Council on Bosnia and Herzegovina. "We would like to emphasize that the Bosnian problem is on the Council's agenda within the meaning of Chapter 7 of the UN Charter," the diplomat said. - There has been a quarter-century practice of approving High Representatives. Attempts to circumvent it look all the more cynical when such destructive initiatives for Bosnia and Herzegovina come from States that consider themselves keepers of the tradition of jurisprudence and international law." "We would like to emphasize that Mr. Schmidt has no right to speak on behalf of the international community and send any documents to the Security Council," Nebenzia said.
At the same time, the Russian diplomat noted that "there is a practice according to which it is possible to hear the speaker in his personal capacity in order to assess whether his participation will be required in the future." "This is how we perceive his participation here today," Nebenzia added.
Russia's position was supported by the Deputy Permanent Representative of China to the UN, Dai Bin. "Due to the fact that Mr. Schmidt's appointment has not been approved by the Security Council, we believe that he cannot act as a High Representative in the Council," he said.
The remarks of the diplomats of the Russian Federation and China were followed by Schmidt's speech.
On May 27 last year, the ambassadors of the countries of the Steering Committee of the Council for the Implementation of the Peace Agreement (RC CICA) decided to appoint German diplomat Christian Schmidt as the new High Representative in BiH. Traditionally, the appointment was carried out after the approval of the candidacy in the UN Security Council, but this time it was not possible to do so. Russia, which is a member of the RK SVMS, opposed such a decision. A member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, President of Republika Srpska Milorad Dodik demanded to close the office of the UN High Representative in BiH, calling the appointment of a new High Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina without the approval of the UN Security Council a violation of the Dayton Agreement, international law and the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina.