New US Sanctions Target Bosnian Serb Leader’s Associates

The United States on Wednesday announced new sanctions on individuals and companies associated with Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik who are accused of aiding his family’s alleged evasion of previous restrictions.

Four individuals and four entities from Republika Srpska (RS) are targeted by the new measures, including Bosnia’s Foreign Trade Minister Stasa Kosarac, a close Dodik ally, the US government said.

Since the end of Bosnia’s 1992-1995 war, the country has consisted of two semi-independent entities — a Muslim-Croat federation and the Serbs’ Republika Srpska (RS).

Dodik, the president of Republika Srpska, is accused by the United States of corruption. He is considered pro-Russia, which runs counter to US foreign policy in the region.

He has led RS since 2006, and was sanctioned in 2017 and 2022 by the US government for his separatist policies in Bosnia.

The United States accuses him of using “his official position to accumulate personal wealth through companies connected to himself and his son, Igor Dodik,” according to the State Department.

“This corruption has undermined public confidence in Bosnia and Herzegovina state institutions and the rule of law,” read a statement announcing the new measures.

A US Treasury Department statement said Kosarac, who is also vice-chairman of the country’s council of ministers, “is often tasked by Dodik to abuse his official position for Dodik’s benefit.”

The country’s intercommunal war, which claimed almost 100,000 lives, was ended by the signing of the Dayton peace agreement, which formed a state that consisted of Bosnia-Herzegovina and Republika Srpska.

Dodik has regularly criticized the agreement, threatening to secede from the state.

He also regularly denounces what he terms US “interference” in Bosnian domestic politics.

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