(ANSA-AFP) - SARAJEVO, MAR 18 - The United States has denounced "dangerous" comments by Russia's ambassador to Bosnia, who issued a tacit threat to the Balkan country over its proposed bid to join NATO. Bosnia has been divided along ethnic lines since a war in the 1990s that killed some 100,000 people.

The country is ruled by a rotating tripartite presidency, with Croat and Muslim leaders in favour of joining NATO, while the Serb leader says he supports military neutrality. Earlier this week, Russia's ambassador in Sarajevo, Igor Kalabukhov, said his country could "react" if Bosnia were to join the Western military alliance, invoking Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. "If (Bosnia) chooses to be a member of anything, that is its internal business. But there is another thing, our reaction", he said. "We have shown what we expect on the example of Ukraine.

If there are threats, we will react." On Thursday, the US embassy in Bosnia hit out at what it called "threats", calling them "dangerous, irresponsible, and unacceptable". (ANSA-AFP).