U.S. Removes Sanctions Targeting Bosnian Serb Leader
(MENAFN) Washington has withdrawn financial penalties targeting Bosnian Serb politician Milorad Dodik and his relatives, the US Department of the Treasury disclosed Wednesday.
The restrictive measures—initially enacted during President Joe Biden's administration in 2022 and subsequently broadened—penalized Dodik for purportedly destabilizing the 1995 Dayton Peace Agreement. That accord established Bosnia and Herzegovina as a dual-entity state comprising the Serb-dominated Republika Srpska and the Bosnian-Croat Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Treasury officials removed the sanctions following Dodik's official commitment to surrender his leadership position in Republika Srpska, the territory where he previously served as president.
Responding via X, Dodik thanked US President Donald Trump, declaring the decision "corrected a grave injustice inflicted upon Republika Srpska, its representatives, and their families." He further asserted the move demonstrated that "the accusations made against us were nothing but lies and propaganda."
Dodik's resignation emerged after confrontations with Bosnia's central administration in Sarajevo and Christian Schmidt, the German diplomat directing the Office of the High Representative (OHR)—the entity monitoring Dayton Agreement compliance. A Bosnian tribunal previously imposed a custodial sentence on Dodik, though authorities later converted it to monetary penalties. Regional elections are slated for November.
The political figure has consistently resisted Bosnia's integration into NATO and the European Union, instead championing strengthened relationships with Serbia and Russia. During a recent interview this month, Dodik told Russian media that EU leaders had "destroyed all the advantages that [Western] Europe once offered" and accused them of adopting authoritarian and militaristic policies to conceal their failures.
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