US expands sanctions against Bosnian Serb leader's ally
7/11/2024 6:09
The United States on
Wednesday expanded sanctions against an individual and an entity
who have helped Bosnian Serb nationalist leader Milorad Dodik
and his son evade existing U.S. sanctions, the U.S. Treasury
Department said in a statement.
Dodik, the pro-Russian president of Bosnia's autonomous Serb
Republic (RS) who has long advocated the region's secession from
Bosnia, is already under U.S. and UK sanctions.
In October 2023, Washington imposed sanctions against his
two adult children - son Igor Dodik and daughter Gorica Dodik -
and their companies, saying they facilitated the Bosnian Serb
leader's ongoing corruption.
In June 2024, the U.S. imposed sanctions on two individuals
and a network of companies generating wealth for Dodik and Igor
Dodik, who has continued to control the firms officially run by
individuals loyal to him.
On Wednesday, the U.S. Treasury Department said that
Vladimir Perisic, the general director of Prointer ITSS, a
company that was sanctioned in June, has continued to execute
business decisions based on guidance by Igor Dodik.
It also said that the sanctioned Kaldera company has been
replaced by a new company, Elpring, which has been effectively
controlled by Igor Dodik. It therefore added both Perisic and
Elpring to the sanctions list.
The United States says Dodik has undermined the 1995 Dayton
Peace Agreement that ended the 1992-1995 Bosnian war in which
100,000 were killed. The pact divided the country into two
autonomous regions, the Serb Republic and the Bosniak-Croat
Federation, linked via a weak central government.
The new sanctions come on the day Donald Trump secured his
second U.S. presidency, welcomed by Dodik.
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