Dodik: Putin Supports Bosnian Serbs Against ‘Liberal West’

Russian President Vladimir Putin has vowed to support Bosnian Serbs in their disputes with Bosnia and Herzegovina’s other ethnic entities over the division of power in the country against Western powers, the Serb leader said in a statement.

“Russia has a number of objections to violating the Dayton Peace Accords,” Dodik said, referring to the agreement that ended the 1995 Bosnia-Herzegovina war, speaking to RTRS on Friday.

Putin prefers to keep the predictions set by the Dayton Accords rather than the changes demanded by “the liberal West”, the Bosnian Serb leader said.

Dodik has repeatedly threatened to secede from the Bosnian Serb entity, one of the two entities that make up the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina, if Western powers continue to demand the transfer of power to the central government in Sarajevo. The other half of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the “Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina”, also known as the “Muslim-Croat Federation”, represents the other two ethnic groups in the country, namely Bosnian Muslims and Croats.

Both entities are represented in the central government, while the country’s presidency is three-member, with one representative of each ethnicity.

Dodik has repeatedly sought refuge in Russia for help, even financially, according to Bloomberg.

Putin has spoken of “joint economic projects” in the Bosnian Serb entity, Republika Srpska (Republika Srpska), including a gas pipeline, fuel deliveries and a solar power plant, according to Dodik.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peshkov confirmed that the two leaders had met in Moscow on Thursday, but declined to comment on what they had discussed. The meeting was not announced, as is usually the case with visits by foreign leaders.

Dodik also met with Gazprom’s strongman Alexei Miller in St. Petersburg, where they discussed co-operation and the supply of Russian gas to the Bosnian Serb entity.