Milorad Dodik, president of Bosnia’s Serb-dominated Republika Srpska, criticised the US on Monday for sanctioning four senior officials in the entity for undermining the Dayton peace agreement that ended the 1992-95 Bosnian war.
Dodik, who was sanctioned by the US himself last year, wrote on Twitter that Washington “believes that by doing this, they can discipline anyone who does not share their views”.
“These sanctions also demonstrate the impotence of a great global power like the United States,” he said, adding that the four officials are “not concerned about these sanctions”.
The US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned the four officials on Monday. They include the Serb member of Bosnia’s tripartite presidency, Zeljka Cvijanovic, the prime minister of Republika Srpska, Radovan Viskovic, parliament speaker Nenad Stevandic, and justice minister Milos Bukejlovic.
Viskovic also criticised the sanctions. “I consider these sanctions to be hypocritical because myself and other officials in Republika Srpska are committed and act in accordance with the Dayton Peace Agreement,” he said.
The US said the four officials are directly responsible for encouraging the passage of a law that purports to declare the decisions of the Bosnian Constitutional Court inapplicable in the Republika Srpska, thus “obstructing and threatening the implementation of the Dayton Peace Agreement”.
Source : Balkan Insight