Bosnian Serb leader says secession plan delayed due to Ukraine war

BANJA LUKA, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Russia’s war on Ukraine has forced Bosnian Serb nationalists to postpone plans to pull the Republika Srpska (RS) region out of Bosnia-Herzegovina’s national institutions, a Serb member of the Bosnian Presidency said Monday.

Speaking at a session of the RS parliament in the city of Banja Luka, Milorad Dodik announced that quitting the main federal institutions to achieve sovereignty has been delayed.

Dodik also noted that they are against Bosnia-Herzegovina imposing sanctions on Russia over the war.

The RS will maintain its "neutral" position on the war in Ukraine, he added.

In 1995, the Dayton Agreement ending the Bosnian War created a complex double-federative system of two main entities -- the Republika Srpska and the Croat-Bosniak Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The country’s worst political turmoil since the end of the war started last July, when Serb officials started boycotting federal institutions after outgoing High Representative Valentin Inzko introduced a new law banning the denial of genocide and criminalizing the glorification of war criminals.

The crisis escalated in October when Dodik, the leader of the Republika Srpska, announced it was quitting the main federal institutions to achieve sovereignty.

BANJA LUKA, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Speaking at a session of the RS parliament in the city of Banja Luka, Milorad Dodik announced that quitting the main federal institutions to achieve sovereignty has been delayed.

Dodik also noted that they are against Bosnia-Herzegovina imposing sanctions on Russia over the war.

The RS will maintain its "neutral" position on the war in Ukraine, he added.

The crisis escalated in October when Dodik, the leader of the Republika Srpska, announced it was quitting the main federal institutions to achieve sovereignty.