It is evident that Milorad Dodik (SNSD), a member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), is staying in Russia, where he is seeking support and guidelines for further action aimed at collapsing the state through demands for the transfer of competencies to the Republika Srpska (RS) entity.
The Russian newspaper Pravda writes that Dodik arrived in Moscow at the peak of the conflict with the West, which does not rule out sanctions due to his anti-state actions. In that context, they call for more active Russian engagement in BiH.
Pravda reminds that Dodik relies on Russia and China and that he has already said that he does not care about threats of sanctions from the West. They recall that RS dreams of being an independent state with a description of the attitude of the authorities in RS towards the High Representative (HR) in BiH,Christian Schmidt.
However, what is interesting is the mentioning of the option of Russian assistance to the RS, so it is reminded that Russia can send air forces to BiH, as they did in the mid-1990s, as an international peacekeeping contingent. Those military forces were transferred to Pristina in 1999.
This is a new moment when it comes to Russia’s relations with BiH. The official policy of the Kremlin has not mentioned this option so far, but considering the turbulent relations and political despair of Dodik, the moment when this option is mentioned is really interesting.
To recall, only NATO and EUFOR, whose mandate was recently extended for another year, have had their presence and influence in BiH for years.
It is clear from this story that Dodik’s next moves, including the announcement of withdrawal from some state institutions, will be clearer after the instructions that the SNSD leader receives from either Putin or other officials.
E.Dz.
Source: Klix.ba
