Bosnia and Herzegovina

Lord Callanan Excerpts

Thursday 11th June 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Callanan (Con)]

My Lords, this has been a very timely debate, and I congratulate my noble friend Lady Helic on securing time for it. She showed in her powerful opening speech her immense knowledge and appreciation for the region, and I think the House benefited from that.

We have heard a number of other excellent speeches, particularly from the noble and gallant Lords, Lord Peach and Lord Stirrup, the noble Lord, Lord Robertson, and my noble friend Lady Anelay. I thought the analogy of the ballerina on pointe was particularly apt—we all need to be supporting that benighted region.

Regarding the International Relations and Defence Committee’s 2024 report on the western Balkans, the chair, my noble friend Lord Ashton of Hyde, said:

“It is in the UK’s interest to promote peace, prosperity, and stability in the Western Balkans”.


He went on to argue that the UK must

“review its approach to the region in light of the disturbing escalation of violence in northern Kosovo and secessionist rhetoric from the Republika Srpska leadership in Bosnia and Herzegovina”.

It is of course sad that he is no longer a Member of your Lordships’ House and cannot contribute to our debate today, but Lord Ashton was in fact right.

We know that we cannot play a full role on the international stage without the necessary defence capabilities, but the Government have clearly failed on that. The House will be aware that the Defence Secretary resigned during the previous debate. In his letter to the Prime Minister, he wrote that

“you have been unable, and the Treasury has been unwilling, to commit the resources that the nation needs to defend the country”.

That must have been of great interest to the noble Lord, Lord Robertson. I bet that even he is shocked at the chaos that his excellent defence review has unleashed in the Government.

On Bosnia specifically, the previous Government, as my noble friend Lord Ahmad reminded us, sanctioned Milorad Dodik. This Government are right to build on that work by maintaining the sanctions regime, and I would be interested in the Minister’s comments on how they will take that forward. Sadly, as a number of other noble Lords observed, the United States chose to discontinue its sanctions regime in October 2025. Can the Minister say what discussions Ministers in the FCDO had with their counterparts on that? The recently elected Siniša Karan is a known associate of Milorad Dodik. What is the Government’s view on that fact and the influence that Dodik may wield informally as a result?

Many noble Lords have commented on the malign influence of Russia in the region as it attempts to shore up its support. Pleasingly, Moscow has recently suffered a number of setbacks in its influence campaigns. We should all work together to make sure that Bosnia and Herzegovina is the latest setback for its influence campaigns.

Republika Srpska has been seeking to undermine the memory of the Srebrenica massacre. Will the Minister reassure the House that His Majesty’s Government will continue Srebrenica education and memorialisation efforts in future?