The US Lifts Sanctions For Serbian Leaders Bosnia And Its Allies.

Milorad Dodik/PHOTO: Service Photo DS/CONTRAPHOTO via WIkimedia Commons

JAKARTA - The US Treasury Department lifted sanctions against Bosnian nationalist leader Milorad Dodik, his allies, as well as family members and companies linked to them.

The Office of Overseas Asset Control (OFAC) in its announcement did not explain why they removed dozens of Dodik's closest allies, including government ministers and sons and daughters, from sanctions.

However, Serbian officials have indicated they have been working secretly to build more cooperative relations with the US while maintaining friendly relations with their Russia ally.

Dodik is a former president of the Bosnian autonomous Republic whose mandate was lifted in August due to a court ruling banning him from politics.

He has been under US sanctions since 2017 for violating the Dayton peace treaty that ended the Bosnian ethnic war in the 1990s and keeping the country intact.

In an upload on X, Dodik thanked US President Donald Trump and his colleagues for correcting what he called "the major injustice committed against the Republic of Srpska (Republic Serbia), its representatives, and their families".

"The decision to lift this sanction is not only a legal rehabilitation but also a moral over the truth about the Republic of Srpska and all those who honorably serve him," Dodik said.

Dodik, a pro-Russian nationalist, has long fought for the segregation of the Serbian Republic from Bosnia and refused to resign as president.

However, on October 18, Serbian lawmaker Bosnia appointed an interim president, who officially admitted Dodik resigned for the first time after state courts banned him from politics.

The interim president will serve until the initial presidential election is scheduled for November 23.

Parliament also overturned a series of separatist laws passed over the past year after Dodik was charged with opposing Bosnia's international peace envoy and Constitutional Court decisions.