Russia warns that Dodik's guilty verdict will have "harmful consequences"

The Russian Foreign Ministry declared that the “charges against the legally elected president of Republika Srpska, Milorad Dodik, and in reality, against the entire Serb people, are based on provisions of a pseudo-law arbitrarily imposed on BiH by the self-proclaimed High Representative Christian Schmidt, clearly outside the bounds of law.”

"Russia, as a permanent member of the UN Security Council and a guarantor state of the Dayton Peace Agreement, believes it is necessary to warn international actors involved in the post-conflict resolution process in BiH, regional countries, and the entire global public about the inevitable harmful consequences of the guilty verdict on the situation in the country and the Balkans as a whole," the statement reads, as conveyed to the media by the Russian Embassy in BiH.

The Ministry added that the year-and-a-half-long trial was nothing more than a parody of justice and an open mockery of the foundations of the rule of law from the very beginning.

“The prosecution of Milorad Dodik is purely political in nature, inspired by the West, which, through its puppets in BiH’s judicial bodies, hopes to eliminate the patriotic forces of Republika Srpska from the political scene—forces that resist Euro-Atlantic neocolonialism,” the statement emphasizes.

The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that BiH’s judicial system should adopt an independent and objective stance based on the principles of a sovereign rule of law that is not subject to external influence, relying on the Constitution of BiH in accordance with the Dayton Peace Agreement.

“A decision must be made to stop looking towards irresponsible external mentors and the High Representative, whose egoism is destroying the atmosphere of mutual understanding and cooperation between the peoples of BiH, intensifying contradictions, and depriving the country of a future,” the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs pointed out.

The statement emphasizes that encouraging increased tensions in BiH is unacceptable and that this would be a blow to the stability of the Balkan region as a whole.

"Responsibility for this course of events will fall on those who fabricated an unconstitutional and anti-Dayton case against Republika Srpska and, contrary to all legal logic and common sense, have supported it to this day, thereby leading the process of interethnic reconciliation into a dead end. Moscow expects that all these circumstances will be taken into account," the statement concludes.