Wanted Bosnian Serb leader makes third visit to Russia

SARAJEVO: Bosnian Serb political leader Milorad Dodik announced on Tuesday he was in Moscow, a challenge to Bosnia's central authorities, who have issued a national arrest warrant against him.

The president of Republika Srpska (RS) which is the ethnic Serb half of Bosnia was given a prison sentence in February by a court in Sarajevo but the Balkan country's police forces have not arrested him.

The court sentenced him to one year in jail and banned him from holding public office for six years for not complying with rulings by the international envoy overseeing Bosnia's 1995 peace accords.

Since the end of the war in 1995, Bosnia has been divided into two autonomous entities - the Republika Srpska and the Croat-Muslim Federation - connected by a weak central government.

In response to the Sarajevo court verdict, the parliament in the Republika Srpska passed a law prohibiting the central police and judicial authorities from operating in the Serb entity.

That lead to the central Bosnian judicial authorities issuing a national arrest warrant for Dodik on charges of undermining "constitutional order".

"I am here again," Dodik wrote on X of his third trip to Russia since the arrest warrant was issued in March.

RS state television said he had arrived in the Russian capital overnight and was expected to attend an international security conference.

He was also due to meet top Russian security official Sergei Shoigu, Bosnian media said.

En route to Moscow, Dodik stopped over in Belgrade on Monday to meet Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic.

Bosnia's central judicial authorities asked Interpol to take action against Dodik, who has led the RS since 2006, but the international police force has not issued a red notice against him.

A red notice is a request to law enforcement worldwide to locate and provisionally arrest a person pending extradition or other legal action.

Local media alleged Interpol's decision was made at the request of Serbia and Hungary, who had condemned Dodik's trial as "political".

Russia has also criticised his conviction.