Since BiH’s independence, the country has experienced persistent and hostile foreign interference in its internal affairs.

In the 1990s, BiH was the target of aggression by both the then-Milosevic regime in Belgrade and the Tudjman regime in Zagreb. Since the signing of the Dayton Peace Accords in 1995, BiH’s sovereignty has continued to be undermined through endemic influence and interference campaigns by successive generations of Serbian and Croatian leaders.

Since the early 2010s, BiH has also become a target for malign foreign influence operations by Russia and Russia-aligned states within the EU such as Hungary. This is most clearly manifested through their ties with local leaders in the secessionist SNSD (the leading Serbian nationalist party) and their counterparts in the Croat separatist, HDZ BiH.

Moscow has become especially brazen in its support for the Milorad Dodik regime in the Republika Srpska entity and has repeatedly made clear its support for his militant secessionist agenda. China has also sought to carve out a greater degree of influence in the country, including BiH’s media and energy sectors. China’s closest partners in BiH are also in Dodik’s SNSD and in August 2023, Dodik himself made clear that BiH ought to abandon its EU aspirations in favor of the Russo-Chinese BRICS pact.

At USABIH, we aim to crystalize the links between local malign foreign interference campaigns in BiH (e.g. those led by Serbia and Croatia) and those by America’s great power competitors in Moscow and Beijing.

Our mission is to illuminate for American decision-makers how insufficient deterrence against local interferences has created fertile ground for greater threats to U.S. interests in the region.

Objectives:

• Strengthening the capacities of the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina to defend the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Bosnian state
• Deepening BiH’s security and military ties with NATO and its member states
• Maintaining a credible international security force and accompanying commitments in BiH until the country has successfully joined NATO