Milorad Dodik and Zeljka Cvijanovic, the newly elected Bosnia’s Serb Presidency member, and the Republika Srpska (RS) entity President were officially sworn in, on Monday, to their posts in the RS National Assembly (RSNA).

Speaking to RSNA delegates, Dodik promised his policy would not change.

“I’m only changing my workplace, but I’m staying in the RS,” he said, thanking all those who voted for him. “The RS is our base. It is sacred. Our country, the RS, must be our top priority.”

According to him, the position of Serb Presidency member is in no way superior to the RS. On the contrary, it is inferior. His every decision will be made in coordination and agreement with the RS institutions, he said.

“What ever’s not in the interest of the RS, it would not be in the interest of Bosnia and Herzegovina,” he stressed.

The new RS President Zeljka Cvijanovic noted that her basic principle would be a strong, stable and prosperous Republika Srpska entity.

She added that stable institutions are a guarantee of execution of their commitments to the RS citizens and budget users. They are a guarantee of further infrastructure improvements and the overall development of the RS.

Both Dodik and Cvijanovic come from the nationalist Alliance of Independent Social Democrats who have had a firm grip on the RS for the past 12 years.

Dodik served as the RS Prime Minister and then as the RS President for two terms. During his term as the RS President, Cvijanovic server as the RS Prime Minister.

The US Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) introduced sanctions on Dodik in January 2017. Then-Acting OFAC Director John E. Smith said Dodik posed a “significant threat to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina”.