Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov thanked the Serb member of the Bosnia and Herzegovina Presidency Milorad Dodik for his stance on sanctions against the Russian Federation at a meeting in St. Petersburg on Thursday, as Dodik himself said that BiH had not joined the sanctions.
Lavrov and Dodik met on the sidelines of the International Economic Forum in St. Petersburg, where the Bosnian Serb leader is due to meet with President Vladimir Putin on Friday.
As reported by the Serb entity's broadcaster, Republika Srpska Radio Televizija RTRS, Lavrov thanked the Serb member of the BiH Presidency for his views regarding the sanctions against Russia.
“I know that there are many of those in BiH who want to destroy the friendship between Republika Srpska and Russia. I had hoped we would meet in Belgrade, but you know why, unfortunately, that did not happen,” Lavrov said during the meeting with Dodik.
Lavrov was to have visited Belgrade last week and met with Serbia's President Aleksandar Vučić and Dodik, but the visit was cancelled after his plane was banned from flying over neighbouring countries.
In a statement to the media, Dodik said that the West is angry because BiH has not imposed sanctions on the Russian Federation, and that the Serb side is under strong pressure because of that.
“We are under serious pressure, especially regarding the conflict in Ukraine. We are being asked to join the sanctions against Russia, but Republika Srpska will not allow that,” Dodik said. He added that he was attending the International Forum in St. Petersburg as a representative of the Republika Srpska entity.
Addressing the forum Dodik said that BiH remains unstable because it is under the protectorate of the Western world.
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