Milorad Dodik, the Serb member of the Bosnia and Herzegovina's tripartite Presidency, announced on Friday that he would block all projects if the state authorities continue to obstruct the project to connect Republika Srpska entity with Serbia by gas pipeline, which is being conducted by Russia's Gazprom.

“It is unjustified that this is being blocked by institutions in Sarajevo. If they continue to block our request, then we will also block other projects that are important for BiH. We will take a number of measures to force them to do so,” Dodik said in St. Petersburg on the sidelines of the International Economic Forum where he met with Gazprom's Chairman of the Management Board, Alexey Miller.

Dodik said that the Serb-majority entity has been waiting for ten years for the state to give its consent for the construction of a gas pipeline under the Drina River, while at the same time the Serb side is not opposing BiH's gas connection with Croatia through a southern gas interconnection.

According to Dodik, Gazprom's CEO announced that the company would deliver natural gas to Republika Srpska at the same price until the end of the year.

Dodik also met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Thursday and is due to meet with President Vladimir Putin later on Friday.