Russian Embassy Increases Pressure on Bosnian Judiciary Due to Dodik

 

The recent comment by the Russian Embassy in Sarajevo on the first-instance verdict sentencing Republika Srpska President Milorad Dodik to a year in prison and a six-year ban on political activity for failing to comply with the High Representative's decisions went without a reaction from the domestic judiciary.

The embassy wrote in a statement published on social media that the verdict of the Court of BiH is "just a banal repetition of pseudo-legal Anglo-Saxon theses". In this statement, Russian representatives speculate about a new war and accuse BiH's Western partners of it, while implying that the domestic judiciary is creating new conflicts.

For a member of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH, Šemsudin Mehmedović, the official position of a foreign embassy on the first-instance decision of the Court of BiH is a "shameful act of propaganda" and impermissible interference in the internal affairs of another state.

"This particularly applies to the statements about the Court of BiH. Such a political scandal requires an urgent reaction from BiH institutions and the denial of hospitality to Russian diplomats. Mostly because of the irresponsible threatening mention of war and conflict," says Mehmedović.

In its statement, the Embassy of the Russian Federation accuses the State Court of wanting to divide the peoples of BiH.

"It is regrettable that the Court of BiH, which should be the standard of objective and impartial judicial proceedings, a model of serving the rule of law, has allowed itself to be drawn into Anglo-Saxon provocations, which have only one goal - to divide the peoples of Bosnia and Herzegovina, to continue their policy of 'divide and rule', using BiH as a 'social laboratory'. And if the Frankenstein of war and conflict reappears here, it will be solely the fault of Western instigators and provocateurs," the Embassy's statement reads, among other things.

The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina did not want to comment on the Russian Embassy's announcements, but they pointed out that "court decisions and proceedings that have not become final cannot be the subject of public comment."

 

Sanin Bogunić, President of the High Judicial Prosecutorial Council (HJPC), also had no comment on the statement. Dodik was found guilty on February 26, 2025, because he knowingly and knowingly that the High Representative Christian Schmidt had issued a decision preventing the entry into force of the law on the non-application of decisions of the Constitutional Court of BiH and the publication of laws and other regulations of the RS, took actions with the aim of continuing the legislative procedure, not applying and not implementing the decisions of the High Representative.

Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina Josip Brkić criticizes Russia's position.

"I do not want to comment on the court processes, but I condemn and reject any pressure on the judiciary, from domestic or international factors in BiH," says Brkić, who adds in a brief interview that laws in BiH should not be passed through international interventionism.

The statement from the Embassy of the Russian Federation carries with it a long-standing message that coincides with almost all political positions being created in Banja Luka.

Political scientist Harun Cero believes that the presence of external factors in Bosnia and Herzegovina is currently balanced, but that the escalation of Russian policy in BiH, which is noticeable in some statements by the Embassy, should not be underestimated.

"When Ambassador Igor Kalabuhov started propagating the anti-EU story, he first said that the EU path should be carefully thought out, then he raised a step and said 'the EU is not good', then he raised it again and said 'we do not need BiH in the EU'. So the rhetoric has increased in line with the 'Russian peace', with geopolitical ambitions that spill over into this area," says Cero.

Also, says Cero, we should not ignore the stories about self-determination, support for separatism, but we should also take into account the fact that Dodik did not receive support from Viktor Lukashenko, the President of Belarus, at least not in the way he expected.

The latest statement on the work of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina is not the only one from the Embassy of the Russian Federation in Sarajevo. In the past few weeks, a similar statement has appeared three times questioning the work of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, always in the context of the case against Milorad Dodik. Before the first-instance verdict itself, on the day of its pronouncement, the Embassy, among other things, announced that “it is necessary to warn foreign participants in the post-conflict resolution process in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), the countries of the region, but also the entire world public”

“If an incriminating verdict is issued, then harmful consequences for the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Balkans as a whole are inevitable,” the statement from February 26, 2025, reads.

Announcements of a security breach in BiH are a frequent narrative of the Embassy, as well as other influential organizations linked to Moscow. Some of them spread their influence on platforms such as Telegram and behave as media, although in essence they represent a propaganda tool.

When news of the arrest warrant for Dodik was released, the most influential pro-Russian Telegram channels published a series of inflammatory texts featuring extremely violent rhetoric. The Russian militarist Telegram channel Ribar sent a message to its millions of readers stating that “the region is being pushed into escalation.” Similar texts were published by other channels followed by hundreds of thousands of people in Bosnia, Serbia, and Montenegro.

Cero also recalls the crisis that arose due to the arrest warrant for Dodik, the President of the RS Assembly Nenad Stevandić and the Prime Minister of the RS Radovan Višković.

"If the crisis persists until Easter, the voices in the European Union that advocate sitting down with Dodik could become more vocal. There are those who would like to see the status quo continue. That would be the worst option - for nothing to happen, for him to sit down for negotiations and for the talk of the opposition in the Republika Srpska to fall through the cracks," says Cero.

The BiH Prosecutor's Office has launched an investigation against Dodik, Stevandić and Višković for the criminal offense of "attack on the constitutional order" after the ruling coalition in the RS National Assembly adopted laws banning the activities of the State Court and Prosecutor's Office, the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council of BiH and the State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA) in the territory of the RS, which followed the pronouncement of the first-instance verdict in the case against Dodik.

After they refused to respond to the summons for questioning, the Prosecutor's Office ordered their detention and issued an arrest warrant. The Russian Embassy then issued a statement supporting the leadership of Republika Srpska and announcing the disruption of peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the event of "blindly pushing narrow approaches".

The Director of the International Institute for Middle East and Balkan Studies, Zijad Bećirović, believes that certain actions of Russia towards Bosnia and Herzegovina delegitimize it from its role as a constructive factor in international relations.

"Russia is constantly attacking the Office of the High Representative. Let us recall that Russia itself voluntarily withdrew from the work of the Peace Implementation Council. Behind this, there were certainly certain intentions that are slowly coming to light", says Bećirović.

He adds that he believes that the Russian Federation sees the Bosnian entity Republika Srpska as a future South Ossetia according to an already tried and tested recipe, but notes that Russia itself is a complex federation of different peoples and wonders "how Russia would deal with some 'its Dodik'".

"There is no need to waste time on Russia's 'principled' position," says Bećirović.