Milorad Dodik arrived on a visit to Moscow
The president of the Republic of Serbian (RS) Milorad Dodik announced that he was in Moscow. After the Bosnia authorities sent a request to the interpol to an international wanted list, Mr. Dodik literally disappeared for several days and his whereabouts were unknown. Since in Bosnia the President of the RS, accused of encroachment on the state structure of the country, is inevitably awaiting arrest, Balkan experts believe that he may try to get asylum in Russia. With details – Kommersant correspondent in the Balkans Gennady Sysoev.
“I arrived in Moscow. I begin my visit here by visiting the grave of an unknown soldier to honor the memory of 28 million Russians who died in the Second World War, ”Milorad Dodik in social networks said late on the evening of March 31. After that, the politician added that it would be in Moscow on May 9 « at the invitation of Russian President Vladimir Putin at the celebration of the 80th anniversary of the victory over fascism. »
The protocol at first glance the message of the President of the Republic of Serbian was perceived in the Balkans, and outside the region, almost like a sensation. After the authorities of Bosnia sent Last week, a request for an announcement of Milorad Dodik on an international wanted list on charges of “an encroachment on the state system of the country”, his whereabouts was covered with a curtain of secrets on charges.
The message about the request to Interpol found Milorad Dodik at the International Conference on the Holocaust in Israel, where he arrived from Belgrade by the government side of the Republic of Serbian.
As the President of the RS himself admitted to the local media, he had to leave Israel, where he was in the « position of an unwanted guest. » On March 28, a government aircraft with Milorad Dodik on board hastily flew out of Tel Aviv to Belgrade, and from there to a bathhouse. But the board arrived in the capital of the RS on the same day without the president.
The situation was even more confused by the message of Milorad Dodik himself in social networks, which he placed at three in the morning a day after departure from Israel. It was as short as possible: « I arrived. » Where and where he arrived, the President of the RS did not report. And only by the evening of March 31, when Milorad Dodik posted a video on social networks, in which he announced that he was in Moscow, everything finally cleared up.
The next day, the regional media reported that in the Russian capital the leader of the Bosnian Serbs will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
In recent years, Milorad Dodik met with Vladimir Putin already five times that few of the world politicians had succeeded. Meeting with the Russian leader now, the President of the RS is counting on political support from Moscow, especially in the current conditions, when the West and the central authorities of Bosnia sharply increased pressure on him.
Russia is interested in supporting the President of the RS. His position on regional issues practically coincides with the Russian. Like the leader of the Bosnian Serbs, Moscow does not recognize the high representative of the UN in Bosnia Christian Schmidt, who took office without approval by the UN Security Council. Russia also advocates for the strict observance of the Deuton agreements on Bosnia, especially among the independence of the Republic of Serbian, meeting all attempts to revise Deuton under the pretext of improving the functionality of the Bosnian state.
It is important for Moscow and the fact that, despite the formal connection of Bosnia to anti -Russian sanctions, Milorad Dodik blocks their implementation.
And finally, it is important for Russia to prevent the implementation of Western plans for the integration of Bosnia into NATO and the EU, which are impossible without the approval of the Republic of Serbian.
“I am ready to come to Russia and meet with Putin at least every week,” Milorad Dodik said a year ago. However, this time is special for him. “Dodik is unlikely to dare to return to Bosnia now. The question is not whether he will be arrested there, but when he is arrested, ”said Croatian political scientist Davor Jenero in an interview with the Balkan media.“ Dodik will have to stay in Russia, as the family of Milosevich (ex-president of Yugoslavia Slobodan Miloshevich. « Kommersant ») « .
