UK minister: Russian meddling ‘must be stopped’ in Bosnia

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) — British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss is in Bosnia’s capital to reaffirm the U.K.’s commitment to the ethnically divided Balkan country amid growing fears of malign influence from Russia. Truss was meeting with top officials in Sarajevo on Thursday. She announced a U.K.-backed Western Balkans investment package aimed at providing $100 million for infrastructure and energy projects in the region by 2025. Truss said the signs of “Russian meddling here today” threatened to take the Balkans back “those darks days” of the 1990s when interethnic conflicts killed thousands of people. Bosnia’s postwar power-sharing system perpetuates a polarized and venomous political climate, and the leader of the country’s Serbs is staunchly pro-Russia.