Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated eight individuals and six entities pursuant to Western Balkans-related Executive Order (E.O.) 14033 and Russia-related E.O. 14024. In a coordinated action, the U.S. Department of State also designated two individuals and 12 entities pursuant to E.O. 14024.
“Russia has continued to use its influence in the Western Balkans to stymie the region’s integration into international institutions and organizations, as well as leverage key jurisdictions to facilitate its aggressive destabilizing activities,” said Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian E. Nelson. “Today’s action reaffirms the U.S. Government’s wider efforts to promote peace, stability, and functional democratic governance in the Western Balkans region.”
PERPETUATING CORRUPTION AND ENABLING MALIGN INFLUENCE IN THE BALKANS
Bosnia and Herzegovina:
Savo Cvijetinovic (Cvijetinovic) is a member of the executive board of Republika Srpska (RS) President Milorad Dodik’s political party, the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD), in the RS entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). He is also a representative of RS-based company BN Inzinjering, which is owned by a former deputy chief of military air transport in the Russian Armed Forces and a former commander of the Russian military’s air transportation component. BN Inzinjering facilitated the illegal transfer of helicopter engines manufactured in Ukraine to Russia via BiH.
BN Inzinjering is being designated pursuant to E.O. 14024 for operating or having operated in the aerospace sector of the Russian Federation economy. Cvijetinovic is being designated pursuant to E.O. 14024 for being or having been a leader, official, senior executive officer, or member of the board of directors of BN Inzinjering, a person whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to E.O. 14024.
Petar Djokic (Djokic) is currently the RS Minister of Industry, Energy, and Mining. In 2017, Djokic signed an agreement with the Croatian Minister of Environmental Protection and Energy to build a pipeline from Croatia to the Bosanski Brod refinery, which is owned by a Russian company, in the RS. Entering into such an agreement is a threat to the implementation of the Dayton Peace Agreement. Sanctioning Djokic sends a clear signal that the United States will not tolerate anti-Dayton behavior.
Djokic is being designated pursuant to E.O. 14033 for being responsible for or complicit in, or having directly or indirectly engaged in, a violation of, or an act that has obstructed or threatened the implementation of, any regional security, peace, cooperation, or mutual recognition agreement or framework or accountability mechanism related to the Western Balkans, including the Prespa Agreement of 2018; the Ohrid Framework Agreement of 2001; United Nations Security Council Resolution 1244; the Dayton Peace Agreement; or the Conclusions of the Peace Implementation Conference Council held in London in December 1995, including the decisions or conclusions of the High Representative, the Peace Implementation Council, or its Steering Board; or the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, or, with respect to the former Yugoslavia, the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals.
Dusko Perovic (Perovic) is the long-serving head of RS representational office in Moscow, Russia. Perovic has been integral to arranging interactions between RS President Milorad Dodik and his party SNSD and Russian officials. Specifically, he has routinely lobbied for meetings between Dodik and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Perovic also served as the go-between for the Dodik-led RS government and a prominent Russian billionaire. Despite being an RS government employee, Perovic was employed by two of the billionaire’s firms during the same time that the billionaire was in the process of concluding a profitable deal with the RS government. Perovic additionally owned shares in at least one of the billionaire’s offshore entities.
Perovic is being designated pursuant to E.O. 14033 for having acted or purported to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, Milorad Dodik, a person whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to E.O. 14033.
The U.S. designated Dodik on January 5, 2022 pursuant to E.O. 14033 for being responsible for or complicit in, or having directly or indirectly engaged in, a violation of, or an act that has obstructed or threatened the implementation of, the Dayton Peace Agreement (DPA) as well as for being responsible for or complicit in, or having directly or indirectly engaged in corruption related to the Western Balkans. The U.S. also previously designated Dodik on July 17, 2017 pursuant to E.O. 13304 for obstructing the Dayton Peace Agreement.
