Dodik arrives in Moscow, again defying arrest warrant

The news of Dodik's arrival in Moscow was reported by media close to the authorities of the Republika Srpska, the Serb majority entity within Bosnia and Herzegovina. In a statement he gave there, Dodik claimed that the Nazis were defeated by the Russians and Serbs.

"The Russian people and the Soviet Union, together with Serbia and the Serbs, made an undeniable contribution to the victory over fascism and have continued to stand together in defence of that truth, regardless of the revisionist narratives being promoted," Dodik said.

He announced that he would be holding several meetings during his stay in Moscow, including with Patriarch Kirill of Moscow,  a Russian Orthodox bishop

Dodik travelled to Russia via Belgrade, where he arrived on Wednesday and met with Serbia's newly appointed Prime Minister, Djuro Macut.

The Speaker of the Republika Srpska National Assembly, Nenad Stevandic, arrived in Moscow earlier. Like Dodik, he is subject to an arrest warrant issued by the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) in March, which ordered that he be taken into custody. The same decision was made for the entity’s Prime Minister, Radovan Viskovic. All three have refused to respond to summonses from the BiH Prosecutor's Office, which is investigating them on suspicion of having committed the criminal offence of attacking the country's constitutional order.

Unlike Viskovic, Dodik and Stevandic have continued to travel outside Bosnia and Herzegovina. Authorities have never explained how they managed to cross the border without being identified or detained by the border police upon leaving or returning to the country.

The only attempt to arrest Dodik came on 23 April in East Sarajevo, but officers of the Republika Srpska Interior Ministry blocked agents of the State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA) from carrying it out.