Milorad Dodik has a choice – to help constructively shape the future of Bosnia and Herzegovina or continue to block progress for the people of Republika Srpska, the US Embassy said in response to the statements of the president of the Bosnia's Serb-majority entity.

“Serbs are an integral part of a multi-ethnic BiH and have a crucial role to play in shaping the country’s institutions and future. This is enshrined in the Dayton Peace Agreement, which Milorad Dodik is actively seeking to undermine by, among other things, trying to prevent Serbs from participating in state-level decision-making,” the embassy warned.

It also stressed that while he is blocking state-level decision-making processes, refuses to participate in the state-level processes and pressures officials to withdraw from state-level institutions, Dodik is complaining that the Serbs are not part of the decision-making processes which is “hypocritical and destabilising.”

According to the embassy, Dodik's statement implying the conditions that he is creating through his own destabilising actions and rhetoric are analogous to the pre-war period of the 1990s is “outrageous.”

“Mr. Dodik has a choice – he can either help constructively shape BiH’s future, or he can continue to block progress for the people of the RS. The people of the RS deserve a better future for themselves and their families, which means functional, efficient, and accountable institutions – at all levels – that respect the territorial integrity, sovereignty, and multiethnic character of the country,” the embassy underlined.