The President of Republika Srpska (RS), one of the two entities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Milorad Dodik, told NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte on Thursday that he respects his statement that the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina should take responsibility for the country and considers it "an important call to return all processes to the framework of domestic dialogue and political agreement."

“But, dear Mr Rutte, it is impossible to accept a verdict that is not the result of the legislative process of elected representatives, but a political decision of an unelected foreigner – in the middle of Europe,” Dodik wrote on the X platform.

Dodik said that it is “difficult to talk about an independent judiciary when the court in which the proceedings against him are being conducted is full of judges and prosecutors who are being prosecuted for corruption and cooperation with criminal groups.”

“There are more accusations against that court and the prosecution than that court has prosecuted real crimes,” Dodik said in response to Rutte's statement that he expects the RS President to respect court rulings.

He pointed out that the crisis in BiH arose because “the judiciary is being used as a political tool and because the will of individuals is replacing the will of the people.”

“BiH can only move forward through agreement. And an agreement is not reached under pressure, but through mutual respect,” Dodik asserted.

The political crisis in Bosnia and Herzegovina followed after the Court of BiH sentenced Milorad Dodik to a year in prison and a six-year ban from holding the office, for “disrespecting the decisions of the High Representative in BiH,” in late February.

The BiH Prosecutor’s Office then issued an arrest warrant for Dodik, as well as the Prime Minister of the RS, Radovan Viskovic, and Nenad Stevandic, the head of the entity assembly. They are suspected of the criminal offense of “attacking the constitutional order” after the RS National Assembly adopted, and Dodik signed, a decree promulgating laws prohibiting the operation of state judicial and security institutions in that BiH entity.

The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina previously accepted the State Prosecutor's Office's proposal to issue an international arrest warrant for Dodik and Stevandic, who are charged with the criminal offense of “attack on the constitutional order.” Interpol has not issued an international arrest warrant.