Milorad Dodik, president of the SNSD, Željka Cvijanović, member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and other officials from the Bosnian entity of Republika Srpska (RS) have been removed from the “blacklist” of the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).
Sanctions have also been lifted on other individuals from Republika Srpska who were on the US Office of Foreign Assets Control list, including Nenad Stevandić, the speaker of the entity assembly of the RS National Assembly.
Other close associates of Dodik and companies, such as ATV, Kaldera, Una TV, Agape, Prointer, Infiniti Group and others, have also been removed from the updated list of sanctions.
Sanctions were also lifted against Alen Šeranić, Minister of Health of the RS, Miloš Bukejlović, former Minister of Justice, Radovan Višković, former Prime Minister (current Director of Autoputev RS), Dodik’s children – Igor and Gorica Dodik, Petar Đokić, Minister of Energy, Srebrenka Golić, Chairperson of the Council of Peoples of the RS, Staša Košarac, Minister of Foreign Trade of BiH, Siniša Karan, former Minister of Internal Affairs (current Minister of Scientific and Technological Development and Higher Education), Rajko Kuzmanović, former President of the RS and others.
Sanctions were recently lifted against four individuals from the Republika Srpska who were sanctioned for organizing and promoting the unconstitutional January 9th, the date on which the RS Day is celebrated. The US Treasury Department removed Danijel Dragičević, Jelena Pajić Baštinac, Goran Raković and Dijana Milanković from the list of sanctions, it was announced on the Ministry’s official website.
This decision represents a significant change in US sanctions policy towards Bosnia and Herzegovina, given that Dodik has been under US sanctions since 2017 for obstruction of the Dayton Peace Agreement and corrupt activities.
The US Treasury Department did not further explain the reasons for removing individuals and companies from the list, AA writes.
