President of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Republika Srpska (RS) entity Milorad Dodik stated that US President Donald Trump's decision to suspend aid to non-governmental organizations (NGOs) is a signal for Republika Srpska to adopt its own law on such organizations, which he claims have used foreign funds for years to discredit Serbs and RS.

Dodik emphasized that NGOs “will no longer be able to do so” because a strict law will be introduced.

“There are all kinds of scum here using foreign funds to slander the Serb people and Republika Srpska… We will not seek revenge, but one thing is certain – they will no longer be able to do this,” Dodik stated.

He announced that the RS National Assembly will pass the NGO law at its next session.

“This law will be even stricter than the one we initially proposed when we tried to reach a compromise. But since they didn’t want a compromise and thought they could dictate terms, now they will get a rigorous law,” Dodik added.

He also stressed that this move will be made regardless of the European integration process.

“We don’t care about the EU’s opinion on this. If this means the end of our European path, so be it. You will not tell us what to do here,” Dodik said.

He further claimed that Europe is experiencing significant turmoil and that a movement opposing the current EU structure is growing.

“And we are supposed to keep turning a blind eye and ignoring all these objections? It’s clear that this was not the right path. If Trump decided to stop funding NGOs, then that’s a signal for us to pass this law,” Dodik concluded.

It should be noted that President Donald Trump signed an executive order immediately after taking office, cutting financial aid to foreign countries, including funding for NGOs.

Furthermore, Dodik and much of the RS leadership, who are under US sanctions, continue to support Trump’s policies, hoping that he would remove them from the blacklist.

They had high expectations following Trump's inauguration on January 20, but the US president has not mentioned Bosnia in any context, let alone the RS entity.