The pro-Russian president of the Bosnian Republika Srpska, Milorad Dodik, who is on the US and UK sanctions list, met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Kazan, the capital of the Russian republic of Tatarstan, where the summit of the BRICS group took place.
In his official account on Twitter, Dodik wrote that he spoke with Putin yesterday about the completion of the Serbian-Russian temple in the main famine of the Republika Srpska, Banja Luka, as well as about strengthening the tourism potential between the Republika Srpska and Russia.
According to the terms of the Dayton Peace Agreement, which ended the inter-ethnic war in Bosnia in the period 1992-1995, the country was divided into two semi-autonomous parts – the Republika Srpska, inhabited mainly by Bosnian Serbs, and the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, where Bosnian Muslims (Bosnians ) and Bosnian Croats. Each part has its own government, parliament and police, but the two parts are connected through common state-level institutions, including the judiciary, army, security services and tax administration.
“It is always a special pleasure to meet a great world leader and a sincere friend of Republika Srpska,” Dodik also wrote after the meeting with Putin.
The summit, organized by the Russian president, was attended by the leaders of China, India, Brazil, South Africa and other countries that are members or aspire to membership in BRICS.
This is Dodik’s fifth meeting with Putin since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and their eleventh conversation since 2014, RFE notes.
The president of the Republika Srpska is one of the few officials who have met with Russian and Belarusian officials since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, BTA reported.
The international community has repeatedly pointed out that Bosnia and Herzegovina has committed to follow EU security and foreign policy guidelines as a candidate country for EU membership.
Pro-Russian rhetoric and closeness with Russian leaders does not bring concrete benefits to Republika Srpska. Investments from 27 EU member states account for 64 percent of total foreign investment in Bosnia and Herzegovina, while Russian investments amount to less than four percent, Radio Free Europe notes.
In Republika Srpska, Russia is fifth in the list of investors after Serbia, Italy, Austria and Great Britain.
Several major projects that the Republika Srpska government launched with Russian companies and oligarchs resulted in millions in losses.