US lifts sanctions on separatist Bosnian Serb leader Dodik and his family

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States on Wednesday lifted sanctions against separatist Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik and his family, turning back financial penalties that were imposed by the Biden administration in 2022.

Dodik is staunchly pro-Russian and has called for the Serb-run half of Bosnia to break off and join Serbia.

Until recently he was the president of the Bosnian Serb republic in Bosnia, sharing the tripartite presidency with a Bosniak and a Croat. Dodik agreed to step down this month after a Bosnian court banned him from politics over his separatist actions.

Dodik’s separatist threats have stoked fears in the fragile Balkan country, where a 1992-95 war erupted when Bosnian Serbs rebelled against independence from the former Yugoslavia and moved to form a ministate with the aim of uniting it with Serbia. About 100,000 people were killed and millions were displaced.

In imposing sanctions on Dodik, the former U.S. administration accused him of corruption and threatening to destabilize the region and undermine the U.S.-brokered peace accord that ended the war.

The notification of the lifting of the sanctions was published Wednesday on the website of the Treasury Department’s Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence. Officials from the White House and Treasury and State departments did not immediately respond to an Associated Press request for comment on why the sanctions were lifted.

Dodik on X thanked President Donald Trump and his associates for “correcting a grave injustice” by previous administrations.

“The decision to lift sanctions is not merely a legal correction, but also a moral vindication of the truth about Republika Srpska and all those who have served it with honor,” Dodik said, referring to the Serb-run entity in Bosnia. “Once again it has become clear that the accusations made against us were nothing but lies and propaganda.”

Included in the list of people and firms subject to lifted sanctions is a media outlet, Alternativna TV, which the U.S. has closely linked to Dodik’s family.

Dodik’s policies have been widely seen as undermining the tense peace in Bosnia between the country’s three ethnic groups — Bosniaks, who are mainly Muslim, Serbs and Croats.

The Dayton peace accords that ended the war created two regions in Bosnia, Republika Srpska and the Bosniak-Croat Federation, which were given wide autonomy but kept some joint institutions, including the army and the judiciary.

Dodik has repeatedly clashed with the international envoy overseeing the peace, Christian Schmidt, and declared his decisions illegal in Republika Srpska.

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Associated Press reporter Amer Cohadzic in Novi Sad, Serbia, contributed to this report.