Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Foreign Minister Elmedin Konaković has announced the near-total withdrawal of staff from the country’s diplomatic mission in Belgrade. The move is a response to the funeral of Ratko Mladić, the former commander of the Bosnian Serb army who was convicted by the Hague tribunal of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.
Mladić died on 27 August 2026 in a prison hospital in The Hague while serving a life sentence. On 7 September he was buried in Belgrade’s Topčider Cemetery with military honours. The coffin was draped with the flags of Serbia and Republika Srpska. The ceremony included an honour guard, a salute and the presence of thousands of people, among them officials from Serbia and Republika Srpska. Before the burial, a funeral service was held at the Church of St. Luke, led by Serbian Patriarch Porfirije.
Konaković said the foreign minister does not have the authority to recall the ambassador and consul: they are appointed and dismissed by the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Therefore Ambassador Aleksandar Vranješ will remain in Belgrade, while the rest of the embassy staff will be withdrawn. Some functions, including consular work, are to be transferred to Bosnia and Herzegovina’s missions in Croatia and Montenegro.
“If I could, I would sever diplomatic relations with Serbia today. What I can do, I will do: reduce relations to the minimum. I will cut all communication. We will withdraw everyone we can withdraw,” Konaković said. He described as the culmination a “Pravac Potočari” message at a Red Star match. He also noted that Mladić was seen off with the highest military and state honours and that a Serbian government plane was sent to The Hague for his body.
The minister stressed that such treatment of a convicted war criminal contradicts the spirit of the Dayton Accords and jeopardises the region’s European prospects. He announced appeals to international partners and said he would seek sanctions against officials who attended the funeral, including Željka Cvijanović, a member of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Presidency.
In Belgrade, Konaković’s decision has already drawn criticism. Opponents argue that Bosnia and Herzegovina’s foreign policy falls under the Presidency, not a single minister. Relations between Sarajevo and Belgrade, already strained by differing views of the 1992–1995 war and the tribunal’s verdicts, are cooling further.
