U.S. Mulling Re-Imposing Sanctions on Dodik

Milorad Dodik (BETAPHOTO/SERBIAN PRESIDENCY/DIMITRIJE GOLL)

The U.S. is carefully considering whether the recent behavior of leader of the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats Milorad Dodik has reached the threshold for placing him back on its list of sanctioned individuals.

The U.S. Embassy in Bosnia told this to the Sarajevo-based Klix.ba web portal on May 29. The Embassy emphasized that the U.S. “continues to monitor the behavior of all actors, including former Republika Srpska (RS) president Milorad Dodik, and reserves the right to impose sanctions on individuals when necessary, in keeping with executive orders and laws, when they venture into activities that undermine stability and increase tensions.”

They recalled that Dodik and other RS officials were under U.S. sanctions for “destabilizing activity” and that they were removed from the “blacklist” in October 2025, “after concrete steps taken by RS to reduce tensions and revoke the unconstitutional laws that initiated the sanctions.”

The Embassy further stated that the sanctions against Dodik were lifted after he, “by resigning as RS president and allowing the election of his successor,” acted in accordance with the verdict of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina that banned him from public office. Dodik recently again denied the sustainability of the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina and announced the secession of RS. The U.S. Embassy in Sarajevo stated that it expected the new high international representative to Bosnia to be appointed already at the start of June and that it was monitoring all political representatives and parties in Bosnia for destabilizing the situation.