The bullet holes in the skyscrapers along Sniper Alley in Sarajevo have been plastered over, and the destroyed buildings at the airport have long since given way to new buildings.

A small museum on the Ferhadija shopping street commemorates the more than three-year siege of the city by Bosnian Serb troops.

At the beginning of the 1990s there were daily killings in Sarajevo, artillery hammering down on market squares and residential buildings from the mountains.

Serbian snipers fired from afar at anyone attempting to cross the street in Sarajevo.

Peter Carstens

Political correspondent in Berlin

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More than 11,000 people were killed during the siege.

The attackers received support from Serbia, while Belgrade had the backing of Moscow for its murderous activities against the Muslim Bosniaks.

Europe watched.

Through passivity, the United Nations became an accomplice, for example in the Srebrenica massacre.

In the end, the United States enforced a ceasefire in 1995, the Dayton Accords.

But then came the war over breakaway Kosovo, which ended after the bombing of Belgrade and NATO's invasion of Kosovo.

Is it all over, or is Russia just putting new fuses on the Balkan powder kegs?

Concerns are growing in Berlin and Brussels.

66 soldiers left in Kosovo

In any case, tensions have increased noticeably in Sarajevo, the former multi-ethnic city.

The Serbian republic is threatening to leave the federation of the shaky state of Bosnia-Hercegovina.

There has been no state budget for two years.

Tensions among the ethnic groups are growing, alongside the Muslim Bosnians and the Serbs there are also the Bosnian Croats.

The situation is so serious that the still present peacekeeping force EUFOR Althea activated its military reserves in mid-February and sent several armed companies to Bosnia-Hercegovina.

There is said to be a wish that the Bundeswehr should also send one or two companies.

In this situation, Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht (SPD) travels to the Balkans for two days.

She wants, she says, to get an impression.

It can't be more.

Lambrecht has never been to the region, a conversation with the Bosnian Defense Minister Sifet Podzic has to suffice for the beginning.

They agreed on the importance of Western values ​​and had a "very open exchange" about the meaning of "peace and freedom," she says.

It doesn't get any more specific.

There is no mention of a request for troops.

Later that evening, Lambrecht spoke to High Representative Christian Schmidt.

The basis of his office is the 1994 Dayton Agreement, in which Russia was involved at the time, as well as in the IFOR protection force.

Two weeks ago, the Russian embassy in Sarajevo voiced no confidence in Schmidt and suddenly questioned the legitimacy of his appointment.

The Russian influence in Bosnia-Hercegovina is large

The next morning, Lambrecht dropped by the headquarters of the EUFOR contingent on the outskirts of Sarajevo.

There she wants to find out what the plan is, just in case.

It doesn't seem that easy.

Actually, the troops have several battalions, i.e. a few thousand soldiers, available as reinforcements.

Bundeswehr units are not included.

Just why is Germany then asked for two companies, as can be heard?

Above all, the experts from the ministry who were traveling with them have questions for the Austrian commander of the Schutztruppe, Major General Anton Wessely.