BiH Presidency member, Milorad Dodik, said that he respects Ukraine’s territorial integrity but that Bosnia and Herzegovina will not join the EU’s sanctions against Russia.

As opposed to his Bosniak and Bosnian Croat colleagues in the tripartite Presidency, Dodik, who is also the leader of the ruling party in BiH’s Serb-majority Republika Srpska (RS) entity, did not condemn Moscow’s activities in Ukraine.

“As always, we will not have a common position on this,” he said.

“As I support the territorial integrity of Serbia, as I support the territorial integrity of BiH and, not wanting to change it, of course, I also support the territorial integrity of UN members, such as Ukraine,” said Dodik.

However, he rejected the idea of BiH imposing sanctions on Russia.

The Head of the EU Delegation to BiH, Johann Sattler, told local media in an interview earlier that the EU expects BiH to follow the Union's policy on the Ukraine crisis and support the sanctions against Russia.