In an interview with the Guardian, Milorad Dodik, the Serb member of the tripartite leadership of Bosnia-Herzegovina, said he would not be deterred by the outcry from London, Washington, Berlin and Brussels. Dodik, 62, a key figure in Bosnian politics for 30 years, who was once a favourite of the west, insisted his plans need not lead to the end of Bosnia-Herzegovina. Sanctions and cuts to EU funding would only force him to take up offers of investment from China, Dodik said, and he expected to see Russia’s leader “pretty soon”.
“And I even think that I like that”, Dodik said. “When I go to Putin there are no requests. He just says, ‘what is it I can help with?’. Whatever I discussed with him, I’ve never been cheated on it. I don’t know what else to base trust upon, if not that. With [China’s leader] Xi Jinping, he also says, ‘if there is anything I can help with I am there’.”
