Milorad Dodik, the pro-Russia president of the Serbian entity of Bosnia-Herzegovina, met with Russian President Vladimir Putin on February 21 and reaffirmed the entity's refusal to join Western sanctions against Moscow over its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Dodik, president of Republika Srpska, said he "confirmed the good relations" that Republika Srpska has "with the Russian state and with you" at the meeting in the Russian republic of Tatarstan.
"What we are doing in the current circumstances is that we reject any possibility of joining Western sanctions against Russia," Dodik added, according to Radio-Television of Republika Srpska (RTRS), the Bosnian entity's public broadcaster.
It was Dodik's fourth meeting with Putin since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine two years ago.
Dodik is under U.S. and U.K. sanctions for his alleged obstruction of the Dayton agreement and violating the legitimacy of Bosnia. He has spent the past two years attempting to erode central Bosnian authority and establishing parallel institutions to further his longtime threats to divide the country for good, receiving harsh rebukes from Western officials.
The Office of the High Representative (OHR) in Bosnia told RFE/RL that Bosnia "has undertaken to follow the security and foreign policy guidelines of the EU" as a candidate country for membership.
"This excludes cooperation with countries that are under sanctions, as well as personal meetings with the heads of those countries," the OHR said.
In addition to its EU candidate status, granted in December 2022, Bosnia as a nation has joined the EU sanctions against Moscow. However, the implementation has faced obstacles due to the obstruction by Republika Srpska officials led by Dodik.
Dodik is among the few Western Balkan officials to engage in talks with Russian and Belarusian counterparts despite Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
Putin said Dodik's visit would be "useful" and expressed gratitude for regular contacts, Republika Srpska news agency SRNA reported.
"Representatives of the [Republika Srpska] leadership visit us regularly. We cooperate with you in various fields," Putin said, according to SRNA. "I am sure that this visit will also be useful, and that we will use the time to discuss bilateral relations in a whole range of areas."
He added that "Russia knows that the situation is not simple."
Dodik and Putin last met in Moscow in May 2023, when Dodik said Republika Srpska "remains pro-Russian, anti-Western, and anti-American."
European Commissioner for Neighborhood and Enlargement Oliver Varhelyi warned then that EU allies "don't go to Russia."
Dodik arrived in Kazan, the capital of Tatarstan, after a two-day visit to Belarus that included a meeting with Belarusian authoritarian leader Alyaksandr Lukashenka in Minsk on February 19.
Lukashenka and his allies are isolated and under a series of Western sanctions over the brutal crackdown on mass protests that followed Lukashenka's disputed reelection in 2020 and Russia's invasion of Ukraine.