Historical Geography Journal ISSN 2782-6511 (Print) | ISSN 3034-5286 (Online)

Mastilović Draga
PhD, University of East Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Republika Srpska, Istočno Sarajevo)
ORCID: 0009-0005-7542-032X
E-mail: draga.mastilovic@iin.ues.rs.ba

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UDC 94(497.6)”1992″
DOI: 10.58529/2782-6511-2025-4-2-84-99

ABSTRACT. Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) in the early 1990s became the most complex node of ethnoreligious contradictions that accompanied the disintegration of the federal Yugoslavia. The desire of the Serbian community of BiH and its political parties to preserve the republic as part of a reformed federation, and then to defend the right of the Serbian people to their identity in the constituent state of BiH clashed with the provocative policy of extremist leaders of the Croatian and Muslim communities aimed at usurping power in BiH and depriving the Serbs of the right to constitutional status. After the votes of Serbian political representatives in the Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina turned out to be in the minority following the first multi-party elections in 1990, and then as a result of unconstitutional actions and the imposition of decisions by the Muslim-Croat coalition, which insisted on the independence of Bosnia and Herzegovina without the prior consent of the political representatives of all three peoples, a political crisis erupted. It was expressed in the growing disintegration of the former union structures (including, first of all, the army and security forces) and the forced creation of separate paramilitary formations of Croats and Muslims. This crisis, which was brewing with the active assistance of Western countries, primarily Germany and the United States of America, soon escalated into open clashes and war with the fragmentation of the territory of the republics into separate zones of control. During this period, Sarajevo inevitably became the center of escalation of political events, and in April and May 1992, an open military conflict broke out here.

KEYWORDS: ethnic conflicts, Balkan Peninsula, Yugoslavia, Sarajevo, 1992, war in Bosnia and Herzegovina

For citation: Mastilović D. [Sarajevo in 1992. The Path to War]. Istoriko-geograficheskiy zhurnal [Historical Geography Journal], 2025, vol. 4, no. 2, pp. 84–99. DOI: 10.58529/2782-6511-2024-4-1-84-99 (In Russian).

Received 15 April 2025
Accepted 1 July 2025

© 2025 The Author

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Azat K. Idiatullov
Doctor of Historical Sciences, Associate Professor, Ulyanovsk State University of Education (Russia, Ulyanovsk)
ORCID 0000-0003-2804-6302
E-mail: AzKoIdiat@yandex.ru

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UDC 39(470.42)”2021/2023″
DOI: 10.58529/2782-6511-2025-4-2-100-107

ABSTRACT. Today’s Ulyanovsk region is very unique from an ethnic and confessional point of view: firstly, the region is characterized by average values both in terms of the share of the Russian population and in the number of ethnic groups; secondly, the region is characterized by a significant, albeit declared, role of religion. However, the most significant thing is that over the past 30 years the ratio of the most numerous peoples has changed (in some cases, quite significantly). In particular, the number of Muslim peoples has increased, but the number of Christian peoples has decreased. The article aims at studying the nature of interethnic and interfaith relations in the Ulyanovsk region based on the analysis of standardized interview data in the form of a street survey using tablet technologies (geolocation control and audio recording of each interview). The sample size for the region is 700 people, it is representative in terms of gender and age. The Organizer — “House of Human Rights in the Ulyanovsk Region”. The article states that due to the stable trend recorded in previous studies, which for decades had been recording a consistently negative attitude of Russians towards the peoples of Central Asia, as well as a contradictory attitude towards Islam, the changes that affected the population structure of the Ulyanovsk region have led to an increase in interethnic and interfaith tensions in the region. In particular, the author records an increase in respondents’ tensions towards Ukrainians, and an insignificant increase towards migrants and representatives of other religions. Such trends can be explained by political events, in particular SMO, the population’s perception of the situation in the region and in Russia as a whole, occurring against the background of significant changes in the ethnic structure of the population (an increase in the proportion and number of peoples of Central Asia, Gypsies, and peoples of Transcaucasia).

KEYWORDS: ethno-confessional situation, Ulyanovsk Region, interethnic relations, interfaith relations, Christians, Muslims

For citation: Idiatullov А. К. [Ethnoconfessional Situation in the Ulyanovsk Region in 2021–2023]. Istoriko-geograficheskiy zhurnal [Historical Geography Journal], 2025, vol. 4, no. 2, pp. 100–107. DOI: 10.58529/2782-6511-2024-4-1-100-107 (In Russian).

Received 15 February 2025
Accepted 1 July 2025

© 2025 The Author

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