Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik, who is wanted by Bosnian justice, arrived in Moscow, where he will participate in an international meeting of high-ranking representatives involved in security issues, media in Bosnia and Herzegovina reported, BTA reported.
"Here I am again," wrote on his profile on the social network X Dodik, who is the president of Republika Srpska, the part of Bosnia and Herzegovina populated mainly by Bosnian Serbs.
Earlier this month, Dodik was in the Russian capital for the Victory Parade.
A national arrest warrant has been issued against him for undermining the constitutional order and his separatist actions.
Dodik has agreed to participate in the 13th international meeting of high-ranking representatives responsible for security, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced earlier on its Telegram profile, the Bosnian edition of the En1 television station notes. The meeting is taking place from May 27 to 29.
The Secretary of the Russian Security Council and former Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has scheduled a bilateral meeting with Dodik.
On his way to Moscow, 66-year-old Milorad Dodik stopped in Belgrade, where he met with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic yesterday, who posted a photo of their meeting on his Instagram account.
Under the terms of the Dayton Peace Agreement, which ended the interethnic war in Bosnia between 1992 and 1995, the country is divided into two semi-autonomous parts - the Republika Srpska, populated mainly by Bosnian Serbs, and the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (the Muslim-Croat Federation), where Bosnian Muslims (Bosniaks) and Bosnian Croats live. Each part has its own government, parliament and police, but the two parts are linked by common state-level institutions, including a judiciary, army, security services and tax administration. Compliance with the agreement is monitored by a high representative of the international community.
On 26 February, Dodik was sentenced in the first instance to one year in prison and a six-year ban from holding public office for failing to comply with the decisions of the high representative of the international community, Christian Schmidt.
He claimed that he was the victim of a “political trial” and in response, the parliament of Republika Srpska banned the activities of the police and judiciary of Bosnia and Herzegovina on the territory of the Bosnian Serb part of the country.
This move was described as an “attack on the constitutional order” by the Bosnian state prosecutor's office, which has launched an investigation and wants to question Dodik, as well as Republika Srpska Prime Minister Radovan Višković and Parliament Speaker Nenad Stevandić. The court ordered their detention at the prosecutor's request.
The United States has imposed a series of sanctions on the pro-Russian president of Republika Srpska, who has long advocated for the secession of that part of Bosnia and Herzegovina, for violating the terms of the peace agreement that ended the 1992-95 Bosnian war and for corruption, which he denies. He has also been sanctioned by Britain for undermining peace and stability in Bosnia, Reuters notes.