The Bosnian Serbian chief fled to Moscow while the authorities intensify their pursuit – politico

In 2023, Dodik pushed the legislation aimed at blocking the application of the decisions of the Constitutional Court at the level of the State and to modify the laws at the level of the entity. This decision was quickly blocked by Christian Schmidt, the International Peace envoy and the head of the office of the High Representative (OHR).

An internal arrest warrant was issued first, but the Bosnian authorities kept the detention of Dodik, suspicious of the potential for political climbing in the fragile Balkan nation. This changed last week, when it became clear that Dodik planned to leave the country – encouraging officials to officially request a Red Interpol opinion for his international arrest.

Dodik’s influence took advantage of the large scale as the most eminent Bosnian politician in a country that continues to be deeply divided according to ethnic lines, more than 30 years since one of the bloodiest conflicts in Europe since the Second World War.

There is a long -standing precedent for figures for disgraced Balkans fleeing in Moscow to avoid the prison sentence – among which, the Serbian president of the Slobodan war president Milošević Mira Marković, who obtained asylum in Russia in 2003, as well as his children, and the former Minister of Defense Yugoslav La Haye.

Russia does not frequently take into account interpol mandates and extradition requests when it deems them politically practical.

Dodik left Bosnia last week to go to Belgrade, from where he flew to Jerusalem to attend a conference on anti -Semitism organized by the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.