Doha: Fearing an attack on Ukraine and Russia's growing influence in the region, Bosnia and Kosovo have once again expressed their desire to join NATO.
In an interview with Qatari broadcaster Al Jazeera, the leaders of Kosovo and Bosnia and Herzegovina expressed their desire to join NATO, saying that joining the Western alliance would help safeguard regional security.
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Bosnia and Kosovo are the last two non-NATO countries in the region, while Serbia is an anti-NATO country, where in 1999 NATO fought a 78-day war against Serbia aimed at stopping the genocide of Albanians in Kosovo.
Ukraine had also applied to join the NATO alliance, but Russia had already invaded Ukraine and the war has been going on there since February 24.
Prior to joining NATO, Russia allegedly backed rebels in Montenegro and northern Macedonia in 2017 and 2020 in order to pressure the two countries to join the Western alliance.
It should be noted that in the 1990s, the Serbian army invaded Bosnia and Kosovo, which resulted in large-scale casualties. The two countries then decided to join the US-led Western military alliance.
Bosnia applied for NATO membership, which was threatened by Russia, even though the distance between Russia and Bosnia is 2,400 kilometers.
Kosovo's first female president, Fioza Osmani, said in a statement that "we are fully aware that Russia's aggression against NATO will be a threat to us and to Bosnia."
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