NATO chief vows 'unwavering' support for Bosnia's integrity after Serb separatist actions

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) — NATO's secretary general on Monday pledged the military alliance's “unwavering” support for Bosnia's territorial integrity after a series of Bosnian Serb separatist moves raised tensions nearly 30 years after the end of a bloody war.

Mark Rutte spoke in Sarajevo after meeting the three members of the Balkan country's multi-ethnic presidency, an institution established in a peace accord that ended the 1992-95 conflict among the Bosniaks, Serbs and Croats after more than 100,000 people died.

“Three decades after the Dayton Peace Agreement, I can tell you: NATO remains firmly committed to the stability of this region and to the security of Bosnia and Herzegovina,” Rutte said. “We will not allow hard-won peace to be jeopardized.”

Rutte called any actions that undermine the accord, the constitutional order or national institutions "unacceptable,” and added: “Inflammatory rhetoric and actions are dangerous. They pose a direct threat to Bosnia and Herzegovina’s stability and security.”

His comments came days after Bosnian Serb lawmakers passed laws that barred Bosnia's central judicial authorities and its police from operating on the territory of Republika Srpska, a Serb-run entity in Bosnia that encompasses about half the country. The other entity is a federation run by Bosniaks, who are mainly Muslims, and Croats.

The Bosnian Serb move was in response to the sentencing last month of the entity's pro-Russia President Milorad Dodik, a longtime advocate of Bosnia's disintegration. He was convicted of disobeying the top international envoy overseeing peace in the country.

Dodik, a supporter of U.S. President Donald Trump who has faced U.S. and British sanctions for his separatist actions, has rejected the sentence — a year in prison and a six-year ban from state office — calling it anti-Serb. The U.S. and key European nations have condemned Dodik’s actions, while Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed “solidarity.”

The situation has sparked fears of incidents between Bosnian and Serb-dominated police similar to ones at the start of the war. The war in Bosnia began when the country’s Serbs rebelled against independence from the former Yugoslavia and moved to form a mini-state with the aim of uniting it with Serbia.

"I have concerns about the security situation.” Rutte said, adding: "Let’s be clear, this is not 1992 and we will not allow a security vacuum to emerge.”

A European peacekeeping force in Bosnia, EUFOR, has said it was stepping up the number of its troops in response to the tensions.

The Serb member of Bosnia's presidency, Zeljka Cvijanovic, said after the meeting with Rutte that it was wrong to “put the blame on one side only." Denis Becirovic, the Bosniak presidency member, described the Serb moves as a “brutal attack on the constitutional order.”

“Destabilization of this part of Europe would only benefit Moscow,” Becirovic said.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte speaks during lecture at the Faculty of Political Sciences in Sarajevo, Bosnia, Monday, March 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut)

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, right, arrives with Sead Turcalo, dean of the Faculty of Political Sciences, to give a lecture to students in Sarajevo, Bosnia, Monday, March 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut)

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte waves to the members of the media prior to the start of his meeting with the members of the Bosnian Presidency in Sarajevo, Bosnia, Monday, March 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut)

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte waves to the members of the media prior to the start of his meeting with the members of the Bosnian Presidency in Sarajevo, Bosnia, Monday, March 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut)

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, left, shakes hands with the member of the Bosnian Presidency Zeljka Cvijanovic prior to the start of their meeting in Sarajevo, Bosnia, Monday, March 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut)

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte walks out of a meeting with the members of the Bosnian Presidency prior to the start of their press conference in Sarajevo, Bosnia, Monday, March 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut)

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, left, shakes hands with the member of the Bosnian Presidency Zeljko Komsic, right, prior to the start of their meeting in Sarajevo, Bosnia, Monday, March 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut)

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, third left, talks with the members of the Bosnian Presidency at the start of their meeting in Sarajevo, Bosnia, Monday, March 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut)

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte speaks to the media during a joint news conference with the members of the Bosnian Presidency in Sarajevo, Bosnia, Monday, March 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut)

Members of the Bosnian Presidency Zeljka Cvijanovic, left, Zeljko Komsic, center, and Denis Becirovic walk to the photo op with the NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, prior to the start of their meeting in Sarajevo, Bosnia, Monday, March 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut)

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte walks out of a meeting with the members of the Bosnian Presidency prior to the start of their press conference in Sarajevo, Bosnia, Monday, March 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut)

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte speaks to the media during a joint news conference with the members of the Bosnian Presidency in Sarajevo, Bosnia, Monday, March 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut)

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — UConn starting guard Solo Ball limped from room to room Sunday at Lucas Oil Stadium, a protective boot on his sprained left foot. Michigan forward Yaxel Lendeborg didn't even do that much because of an injured left ankle and an injured left knee.

Just one day before the teams meet in Monday night's national championship game, the big question for both was the health of two key playmakers.

Neither was expected to practice Sunday as they focused instead on getting as much treatment as possible, even as teammates and the players themselves insisted the stars would play Monday night. The coaches, Dan Hurley and Dusty May, also tried to lighten the mood before college basketball's biggest game of the season.

“I’m sure he’ll give it a go tomorrow, but that will be entirely up to him and the medical staff,” May said as he updated the playing status of Lendeborg, a first team All-American. “He’ll tell me if he can go and we were laughing because he played the second half, but he played the second half like a 38-year-old at the YMCA — a really good 38-year-old at the YMCA. So whatever version we get of Yaxel we get, it’s going to be somebody that helps us play better basketball.”

Lendeborg played just five minutes of the first half before getting hurt in Saturday's 91-73 victory over Arizona, which sent Michigan (36-3) to its first title game since 2018. He finished with 11 points and three rebounds in 15 minutes and made two 3-pointers in the second half.

But he hardly resembled the guy who was named the Big Ten's Player of the Year.

When Lendeborg was asked whether missing Monday night's game was a possibility, Lendeborg emphatically told reporters in the locker room, “absolutely not.” He reinjured the ankle he initially hurt in the Big Ten Tournament championship game. The knee injury was a new one and Lendeborg said, at worst, he was told it was a sprained medial collateral ligament. May said MRI results came back clean Sunday.

Still, the combination prevented him from doing the traditional between-games media circuit.

While everyone saw Lendeborg's injury Saturday's, Ball's injury seemed to surprise everyone including Hurley, who said he saw Ball in a walking boot before being told what happened.

Ball has played a key role in helping UConn (34-5) reach its third title game in four years, averaging 12.9 points and starting all 38 games he appeared in this season.

He scored 10 of his 13 points in the second half of Saturday’s 91-72 victory over Illinois — after getting hurt in the first half — and told reporters played through the injury on pure adrenaline. The injury occurred when Ball and teammate Tarris Reed Jr. got tangled.

“I've just been doing everything I can to take care of it,” Ball said Sunday. “It's just a bump in the road, so you've got to keep moving forward. Pain is temporary. People say it pushes you through your toughest performance, so it's only what you're made of. This is the championship game.”

Hurley had other questions, though, as UConn attempts to win its third national championship in four years and the seventh in school history. The Huskies are tied with North Carolina for the third-highest total of national championships, behind UCLA (11) and Kentucky (eight).

UConn has won all six of its titles since 1999 and remains hopeful Ball will be a go on Monday.

“I think we’ll see whether this turns into — it’s going to be tough to get an MRI on Easter, on a Sunday,” Hurley said. “I don’t know what the hospitals are like in Indiana. Hospitals stay open.”

Michigan, apparently, had already resolved that issue.

But the Wolverines don't expect Lendeborg's injury to change their mission, snapping a four-game losing streak in NCAA Tournament title games and capturing the school's first national title since 1989 and the second in program history. Nor do they expect it to change their game plan.

“I'll still play the four outs,” Michigan forward Morez Johnson Jr. said. “And Yax is fine.”

AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-mens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness

Michigan forward Yaxel Lendeborg (23) falls after play against Arizona during the first half of an NCAA college basketball tournament semifinal game at the Final Four, Saturday, April 4, 2026, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)

UConn guard Solo Ball (1) celebrates his basket as Illinois guard Andrej Stojakovic (2) looks on during the second half of an NCAA college basketball tournament semifinal game at the Final Four, Saturday, April 4, 2026, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)

Michigan forward Yaxel Lendeborg reacts after an injury on the court during the first half of an NCAA college basketball tournament semifinal game against Arizona at the Final Four, Saturday, April 4, 2026, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)

UConn's Solo Ball (1) dunks as Illinois' Andrej Stojakovic, left, watches during the second half of an NCAA college basketball tournament semifinal game at the Final Four, Saturday, April 4, 2026, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)