The Neretva River blog reports that Russia is seeking to protect war criminals from its "little brother" Serbia from Bosnian justice by threatening to cut off heating gas to Bosnia if it dares to prosecute these mass-murdering scum. That Russia can do this even while demanding that Britain extradite anti-Kremlin oligarch Boris Berezovsky is truly breathtaking hypocrisy. NR states:

Under the headline 'Diplomatski Skandal: Pritisak Moskve na Sarajevo' Slobodna Bosna informs its readers of a Russian threat to cut of Bosnia's gas supplies if war crimes trials against Bosnian Serbs aren't brought to an end. In a hideously cynical move to try to once again project power in the Balkans, Russia has turned to its status as a major energy supplier to the former Yugoslavia in a bid to force Bosnia not to prosecute Serb war criminals at a time when the ICTY is sending more and more cases back to the region for trial as the Tribunal prepares to close. In a move designed to kill at birth Bosnia's new court for the prosecution of war crimes, a member of the Russian Duma's State Security Committee sent an ominous letter to Bosnia's highest judicial body warning Bosnia of the consequences for the continued prosecution of ethnic Serbs. Although the threat to cut of Bosnian gas supplies has emanated from the Duma, and thankfully has not at this point been confirmed by the Russian executive, as of yet the Russian embassy in Sarajevo has not commented on the issue.