US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) imposed sanctions against three Bosnian Serb entity officials and one Serb official at the state level authority, who facilitated the passage of a law in the entity parliament that “undermines the BiH Constitution, an annex of the Dayton Peace Accords.” Commenting on the decision, the State Department called the controversial law a “brazen attempt to undermine state institutions.”

“Promoted by the president of the Republika Srpska entity in BiH, Milorad Dodik, a US-designated person, this new legislation is a brazen attempt to undermine state institutions. The law threatens the stability, sovereignty, and territorial integrity of BiH as well as the country’s prospects for integration into Euro-Atlantic and European institutions, at the expense of the people of BiH,” the State Department said.

US imposes sanctions against four Bosnian Serb officials

It also stressed that international community's High Representative Christian Schmidt, who is the ultimate authority on the interpretation of the Dayton Accords, “publicly condemned the law as an unacceptable offense to the rule of law and an assault on the constitutional order of BiH”, but that despite the High Representative’s action to annul the law, Dodik signed the law into effect on July 7, 2023.

“Today’s designations build on prior US sanctions and visa restrictions we have imposed to promote accountability, peace, stability, and functional democratic governance in the Western Balkans region. We will continue to support the people of BiH in their efforts to strengthen the rule of law and ensure that peace and prosperity prevail,” the State Department said.