The United States (US) Treasury on Wednesday issued a new set of sanctions against Milorad Dodik, the Bosnian Serb leader of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s (BiH) presidency, accusing him of corruption and constantly engaging in activities that threaten the stability and territorial integrity of BiH. The Department of State charged the leader’s associates, Milan Tegeltija and Mirsad Kukic, on similar corruption charges and banned them from entering the US.
In a statement, the Treasury confirmed that the Biden administration had decided to impose economic sanctions on Milorad Dodik for undermining the 1995 Dayton Peace Accords and engaging in corruption and bribery. It also announced sanctions on the Banja Luka-based media outlet Alternativna Televizija (ATV), which is owned by Dodik, for furthering his political goals and disseminating propaganda, including denigrating other politicians.
The statement noted: “Dodik has used his official BiH position to accumulate personal wealth through graft, bribery, and other forms of corruption. His divisive ethno-nationalistic rhetoric reflects his efforts to advance these political goals and distract attention from his corrupt activities.”
Furthermore, Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian E. Nelson said, “Milorad Dodik’s destabilizing corrupt activities and attempts to dismantle the Dayton Peace Accords, motivated by his own self-interest, threaten the stability of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the entire region.” Nelson added that the US will not hesitate to act against those who “pursue corruption, destabilization, and division at the expense of their own people, as well as against those who enable and facilitate this behaviour.”
ATV called Washington’s sanctions an attack on media freedom and defended its independence, calling connections with Dodik “senseless.” In a statement sent to Reuters, the media outlet said, “We are surprised with such a decision and regard it as extremely trivial that a great state should take individual insinuations about ties between our media house and politicians as credible sources.”
Dodik serves as the Serb representative of BiH’s three-way presidency, which also represents the country’s two other ethnic groups, Bosniaks and Croats. Dodik has been threatening a Serb secession from BiH in recent months, putting the country into its biggest political crisis since the end of the war in the 1990s. Dodik wants to roll back the reforms giving all the power to regional leaders, thereby jeopardising the US-brokered Dayton peace agreement of 1995. The US-brokered peace deal came after more than three years of war that killed 100,000 and displaced two million people.