KEY 20TH-CENTURY EVENTS’ IMPACT ON THE BALKANS

TREBINJE, JUNE 3 /SRNA/ - The international scientific and educational programme "Balkan Dialogue – 2025" was opened today in Trebinje. It is one of the most significant projects of the A.M. Gorchakov Public Diplomacy Support Fund with the key 20th-century events’ impact on the Balkans and the relations between the USSR /now Russia/ and the Southeast European countries as the central theme of this year’s gathering.

The programme brings together over 30 young professionals from Russia and the Balkans, including students, researchers, public officials, journalists, and analysts.

Leonid Drachevsky, the Executive Director of the Fund, told the press that the world is in constant flux -states collapse, conflicts arise, new partially recognised or unrecognised countries emerge, which is part of natural processes in international relations.

"The Balkans are perhaps the best example of such developments. Your entire history is a battlefield of competing global interests. Unfortunately, you represent a very serious and negative case study of how conflicts are resolved," said Drachevsky.

Attorney Goran Petronijević stated that the constitutional and legal situation in BiH is extremely complex and stressed that crises of this kind must be resolved through dialogue, emphasizing the importance of academic input.

He has noted this forum participants include experts in social sciences, crisis management, and constitutional law who explore solutions for such challenges.

"The Dayton Peace Agreement has been shaken. Many argue it no longer exists in its original form. Both Annex 4 and particularly Annex 10 have been so altered that the agreement today bears little resemblance to what was originally signed," Petronijević said.

He adds that many experts globally assess the status of BiH, the so-called High Representative, and the entire governance model as unprecedented.

"This model is, from a socio-legal perspective, worse and more rigid than the harshest colonial systems ever seen in human history. Everything is clearly written in the Dayton Peace Agreement - if the High Representative doesn’t know what to do, he should read Annex 10. There’s no room for creative interpretations. When they say ‘creative interpretations,’ they mean: ‘I’ll do what I think is right, because I’m the strongest.’ The EU no longer holds such power, though no one has told them that yet," Petronijević concluded.

As part of the five-day programme, running from June 2 to 6 in Trebinje, a special thematic session on modern BiH will be held on Thursday, June 5, marking 30 years of the Dayton Peace Agreement. Experts from Serbia, Croatia, Turkey, Italy, and Russia will speak on political development, EU integration, and regional cooperation.

Experts of the Higher School of Economics will also present an analytical report titled: “Models of Security Governance in the Balkans and Sahel: Challenges and Opportunities for Russia.”

"Balkan Dialogue – 2025" will serve as a prelude to a broader expert discussion scheduled for November in Belgrade.

The A.M. Gorchakov Fund, marking its 15th anniversary this year, conducts over 150 international public diplomacy projects annually.