MOSCOW – Milorad Dodik, president of the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD) and RS Prime Minister Savo Minić met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Tuesday.
The meeting took place five days before general elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina scheduled for 4 October. This was Dodik’s eleventh meeting with Putin since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
According to Republika Srpska public broadcaster RTRS, Putin expressed support for the governing coalition in the RS entity, led by Dodik.
“We do not want foreign influence to be decisive. We want fairer treatment of Serbs and the Serbian people. We want stability across the region”, Putin said, RTRS reports.
Dodik congratulated Putin on his victory at the elections and proposed holding annual joint sessions of the Russian and RS governments.
“We, too, face pressure from Brussels, but our policies remain unchanged. We will not allow sanctions against Russia. We support military neutrality and will not allow accession to NATO. Bosnia and Herzegovina will not introduce visas for Russian citizens”, Dodik said.
He said that Russia is interested in cooperation with Orao, an aviation maintenance and overhaul company based in Bijeljina.
“This would involve expanding certain areas of its operations. We agreed to pursue this, and the Russian side will propose specific options,” he said.
Orao provides maintenance and overhaul services for the military and aviation industries. The company is majority-owned by Republika Srpska, whose government approved the sale of a 30 per cent stake earlier this year to an international consortium led by Belgrade-based Glotec, Radio Free Europe reports.
Putin and Dodik last time met in May on the sidelines of commemorations marking victory over fascism in the Second World War. RS delegation, led by Dodik, was the only delegation from Europe attended the parade.
