The President of Belarus, Aleksandr Lukashenko, welcomed the pro-Russian President of the Republika Srpska entity of Bosnia and Hercegovina, Milorad Dodik, in Minsk, as the latter announced plans this week to travel to Moscow where he will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin as part of an extended journey in the region.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know what kind of relationship we have with Bosnia and Herzegovina,\u201d President Lukashenko told Milorad Dodik at Monday\u2019s meeting in Minsk.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know that sometimes you find it difficult there, but you are fighting courageously. We welcome this,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Lukashenko further congratulated Dodik for \u201cstrongly representing the interests of the Orthodox there, the people who believe in you. We are on your side,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
On February 18, Dodik stated on his official website that he did not come to Belarus \u201cto ask for military aid\u201d.<\/p>\n
Instead, he expressed his intention for Belarus \u201cto understand the struggles of Serbs in Republika Srpska\u201d, emphasizing \u201ctheir fight for sovereignty, status, and freedom\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose who claim that Republika Srpska is isolated probably think that we should be sitting in [US President Joe] Biden\u2019s office and watching him stumble. Let them say what they want,\u201d Dodik said, adding that he had \u201ca busy schedule\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter Lukashenko, I will talk with Putin in two or three days, then with the president of Tatarstan [Rustam Minnikhanov],\u201d said Dodik, referring to the autonomous Russian republic.<\/p>\n
He said he plans to visit NATO member Montenegro next, where he will meet with the president of the National Assembly, pro-Serbia, pro-Russia politician Andrija Mandi\u0107.<\/p>\n
He said he will then meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan in the southern city of Antalya.<\/p>\n
Dodik said he also plans a meeting with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban in Banja Luka in March.<\/p>\n
Milorad Dodik, currently the President of the Republika Srpska, has advocated for the idea of \u200b\u200bseparating the Serbian entity of Bosnia from the rest of the country and joining it with Serbia for years.<\/p>\n
He is under US and UK sanctions for alleged obstruction of the Dayton Peace Agreement and violating the legitimacy of Bosnia and Hercegovina.<\/p>\n
Dodik has maintained close ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin despite Russia\u2019s military campaign in Ukraine, appreciating him for protecting the interests of his \u201cOrthodox brothers\u201d in Bosnia.<\/p>\n
Dodik met with Putin in Moscow in September 2022 and received the Russian leader\u2019s backing in his upcoming bid for reelection.<\/p>\n
The Bosnian War began in 1992 when Serbs, supported by Belgrade, attempted to create an \u201cethnically pure\u201d region with the aim of joining neighboring Serbia, killing and expelling Croats and Bosniaks, who are predominantly Muslim.<\/p>\n
More than 100,000 people were killed and over two million, or more than half of the country\u2019s population, were displaced from their homes before a peace agreement was reached in Dayton, Ohio, at the end of 1995.<\/p>\n
Since the Dayton Peace Agreement that ended the Bosnian War, the country has consisted of the Bosniak-Croat federation and the mostly ethnic Serb Republika Srpska under a weak central government.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The President of Belarus, Aleksandr Lukashenko, welcomed the pro-Russian President of the Republika Srpska entity of Bosnia and Hercegovina, Milorad Dodik, in Minsk, as the latter announced plans this week to travel to Moscow where he will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin as part of an extended journey in the region. \u201cYou know what […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":66297,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[250],"tags":[1561,2250,2251,243,151,6153,460,770,1224,284],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n