This post is also available in: Bosnian
Vlasyuk is not as well-known as some of President Zelensky’s associates, but the sanctions-enforcement efforts to which he contributes have cost Russia billions of euros that could have been spent by the Kremlin on military equipment to intensify the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Zelensky’s office cooperates with various governmental organisations and NGOs that investigate individuals and groups linked with Russia, particularly those in the energy sector, who they consider to be the biggest sponsors of the Russian military offensive.
Special focus is trained on identifying all the activities of Russian energy companies doing business in the European Union, and Russian investment projects in the EU, in an attempt to end or undermine them.
“We really don’t like it that Russians can supply energy to European countries or build some investment projects within European countries, you know. We are suggesting that it is linked to a large extent with Russia’s military aggression. Therefore, we want to stop that,” Vlasyuk said.
He noted that Russia has long used supplies of gas, oil and other products across Europe to make money and as a lever of influence on European governments.
In the case in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the country continues to be dependent on Russian gas, leaving the country vulnerable to blackmail, particularly during cold winters.
Concerns have been raised that the Bosnian authorities, particularly in the pro-Russian government of the Serb-dominated Republika Srpska entity, are not doing enough to monitor Russian business involvement in the country.
BIRN Bosnia and Herzegovina reported last year that a senior official from a Russian oil company, Igor Chasnyk, registered a company in Sarajevo after the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The investigation found that Bosnia and Herzegovina doesn’t check up on the backgrounds of Russian citizens registering companies in the country, and whether they are attempting to dodge Western sanctions.
Ukraine also has its own sanctions list, which includes thousands of individuals, but Vlasyuk declined to say whether or not Chasnyk would be put it after his activities in Bosnia were revealed.
“I shall not comment on whether we’ll sanction him, because first of all, that is not my decision. Secondly, if we are planning to do it, I would not say it anyway,” he said.
When asked about Bosnia and Herzegovina’s stance on sanctions, Vlasyuk gave a diplomatic answer, but it is clear that Kyiv would like to see greater efforts from Sarajevo to tackle Russian attempts to evade sanctions.
“At this moment, we would rather welcome any investigations by countries in this area. We really, really assume that there are many Russians, many businesses associated with Russia,” Vlasyuk said.
Bosnia and Herzegovina has declared its support for the EU’s sanctions against individuals and companies from Russia, but so far it has not introduced concrete measures or responded to calls to actually apply the sanctions.
Russian citizens can enter Bosnia and Herzegovina without any previous checks, and BIRN has found that the domestic authorities have allowed at least one Russian diplomat to start his work in Bosnia after he had been expelled from the EU.
While Russian missiles are killing civilians in Ukraine, Vlasyuk is clear about what Kyiv wants to achieve with economic sanctions: to hit Moscow’s war effort in the pocket.
“This is our utmost goal, to chase after certain areas of the Russian economy, starting from military industry,” he declared.
