During the rare visit of a European politician to Moscow, the Russian president praised his country’s “strategic partnership” with Serbia.
The visit comes at a time of repeated warnings from the European Union to Serbia to align its foreign policies with the European bloc if it really wants to become a member.
Dodik, the Serbian member of Bosnia’s tripartite presidency, frequently met the Russian president, especially before the elections, to show pro-Russian Bosnian Serb voters that he has Putin’s support.
They last met in June, months after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February.
The West has often accused Russia of trying to destabilize Bosnia and the rest of the Balkans through its proximity to Serbia and Bosnia.
Dodik was explicitly calling for the separation of the Serb-controlled half of Bosnia from the Bosnian-Croatian Federation and the union with neighboring Serbia.
On the eve of his visit to Moscow, Dodik gave an interview to the Russian state news agency TASS, in which he reiterated his separatist views and supported the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Putin also sent a message today to Serbia and its populist President Aleksandar Vucic. Serbia is the only candidate country to join the European Union that has refused to abide by the sanctions imposed on Russia over the invasion of Ukraine.
Russia and Serbia are linked by a strategic partnership. Serbian media quoted Putin as saying that I regularly speak with President Vucic during face-to-face meetings and telephone conversations on major issues of development and cooperation.
Despite its formal intention to join the European Union, Serbia has increasingly moved closer to Putin’s Russia during the authoritarian Vucic administration over the past ten years.
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