Milorad Dodik, president of the Serbian part of Bosnia and Hercegovina, met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Kazan in southwest Russia on Wednesday, where the two leaders expressed mutual good will.
Putin acknowledged that Dodik’s Republika Srpska is “maintaining regular relations with Russia,” and called the Serb-dominated province Moscow’s “friend,” while Dodik thanked him for the “honor” of being invited.
“We live in a difficult situation and we are glad that you understand it,” Dodik said, while claiming that Republika Srpska is “under the protectorate of the West.” He assured Putin that he is “trying to discourage any possibility of [Bosnia and Hercegovina] joining the sanctions against Russia,” even though the West is “literally trying to talk us into it.”