A few weeks ago I was having lunch with a former high ranking US diplomat whose work focused on Russia and Europe. I asked him where he thought Vladimir Putin might target next to sow instability and without missing a beat he said: Bosnia.
A scattering of recent think tank and press reports offer some insights into Russian meddling in Bosnia. It is an extremely under-covered global story, but one that has the potential to cause unrest not only in the Balkans, but across Europe.
On the line with me to discuss this situation is Michael Carpenter. He is a former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Russia, Eastern Europe and the Balkans and is now Senior Director for Diplomacy and Global Engagement at the Penn Biden Center
Carpenter explains some of the motivations driving Vladimir Putin — above all, he describes how fomenting unrest in Bosnia is Putin’s best insurance policy against perceived threats by the West. Bosnia, as Carpenter puts it, is the soft underbelly of Europe that is ripe for exploitation.
If you have 20 minutes and want to learn the implications of Russian meddling in Bosnia for all of Europe, have a listen.
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