DASH: Recent decisions of Republika Srpska influenced the lifting of sanctions against Dodik

The US State Department (DASH) told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty that "constructive actions" taken in recent weeks by the National Assembly of Republika Srpska influenced the US decision to lift sanctions against former Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik and dozens of individuals and companies associated with him.

Dodik, president of the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats, was sanctioned twice for violating the Dayton Peace Agreement.

Sanctions against him, his family members, his companies and his close associates were lifted on Wednesday.

The State Department stressed in a response to REL that the actions of the Assembly of the Bosnian Serb entity “should help improve stability in Bosnia and enable a partnership with the United States based on shared interests, economic potential, and prosperity.”

"We will continue to work closely with political actors across Bosnia to set common priorities," the response states.

In addition to Dodik - who was stripped of his mandate as president of the Serbian entity after being sentenced to prison for disrespecting the decisions of the high representative in Bosnia - the member of the Bosnian Presidency, Željka Cvijanović, and over 40 individuals and legal entities were also removed from the American blacklist.

The US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) did not explain why it removed them from the sanctions list in its announcement on Wednesday.

What decisions did the Assembly of Republika Srpska make?

On October 18, the General Assembly of the Serb entity adopted a law repealing laws that had already been declared invalid by the Bosnian Constitutional Court.

They include the Law on Immovable Property Used for the Functioning of Public Authorities, the Law on Non-Enforcement of Decisions of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Election Law of Republika Srpska, the Law on Prohibition of Activities of Extra-Constitutional Institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Law on Amendments to the Criminal Code of Republika Srpska, and the Law on the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council of Republika Srpska.

Dodik was convicted by a Bosnian court for signing a law that called for the non-implementation of Bosnia's Constitutional Court decisions in the entity he led.

In addition to the one-year prison sentence, which he later replaced with a fine, Dodik was also banned from holding office for six years.

The General Assembly also invalidated 12 parliamentary conclusions of December 2024, which several Western embassies described in a joint statement as "positions against the Dayton agreement."

The assembly also appointed Ana Trisic-Babic, Dodik's former advisor, as acting president of Republika Srpska./ REL