Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and former president of Republika Srpska, Milorad Dodik, repeated their earlier stance that “the complicated relations in Bosnia and Herzegovina are the result of massive Western interference in its internal affairs.”
Lavrov welcomed Dodik in Moscow on Tuesday.
Speaking at a press conference, Lavrov reiterated his criticism of the High Representative of the international community in Bosnia, Christian Schmidt, saying that he “has no mandate” from the UN Security Council and that “he is trying to impose decisions and laws on the orders of the West.”
“We strongly condemn the attempts to remove Serbian leaders who are undesirable for the West from power, and especially our interlocutor today, our friend, the legitimately elected president of Republika Srpska, through fabricated criminal cases,” Lavrov said.
Dodik was stripped of his mandate as president of the Serb entity of Bosnia by the Central Election Commission of Bosnia, after the Court of Appeals upheld his February sentence of one year in prison and a six-year ban from holding office.
He was convicted of failing to comply with the decisions of the High Representative in Bosnia.
Lavrov announced that Russia will take over the presidency of the UN Security Council in October this year and that a session on the situation in Bosnia will be held on October 31, “when our colleagues in the Council will have to answer very unpleasant questions about Bosnia.”
Dodik stated that “Bosnia has never made a decision to impose sanctions against the Russian Federation, because Republika Srpska blocked this through its representatives.”
Dodik dedicated most of his address to the media to Schmidt.
“The High Representatives have dismissed more than 900 elected officials in Bosnia, two-thirds of them from Republika Srpska. Republika Srpska has remained committed to the ‘letter’ of the Dayton Agreement, while the West has used the so-called spirit of the agreement. For years we have had a nameless foreigner called Schmidt, through whom they impose decisions,” Dodik said.
Dodik further added that there is no harmful Russian influence in Bosnia.
He recently announced in an interview with the Russian newspaper Sputnik that he will meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in October.
According to Dodik, he will ask Russia to use its veto against the extension of the EU peacekeeping mission in Bosnia, EUFOR Althea, which is voted on every November by the UN Security Council.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bosnia sent a note of protest to Hungary on Friday after its Foreign Minister, Peter Szijjarto, referred to Dodik as the president of Republika Srpska during a meeting in Budapest.
