Mladen Ivanic, the former Serb member of Bosnia's tripartite Presidency and honorary president of the opposition PDP party, said the sanctions recently imposed on Bosnia's Republika Srpska entity and its officials, affect both citizens and its politicians, adding that he was worried about the effect the sanctions will leave on lives of citizens.

Speaking to N1, Ivanic commented on the sanctions that UK government recently imposed, targeting Milorad Dodik, the current Serb member of Bosnia's Presidency and leader of the strongest party in Republika Srpska SNSD, as well as Germany's suspension of infrastructural projects in that part of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

“I see two types of sanctions here: The ones against certain politicians and to be honest I do not really care about that, this is their responsibility and their way of exercising politics. Another type of sanctions is against the RS citizens and shutting down the projects which I don't understand because, as you said, it is individuals who make problems and not the citizens of RS,” he told N1.

According to him, punishing the citizens because of the entity leadership is “counterproductive.”

He stressed that Dodik will be sanctioned by citizens in the upcoming October elections, expressing belief that there is a large number of citizens who dislike Dodik's politics.

“And I hope and I am convinced that significant changes will happen in these elections and I believe that this is crucial. Everything eles is a forceful way to change things,” said Ivanic.