MILORAD DODIK

The Bosnian Serb separatist leader has awarded Russian President Vladimir Putin with the highest medal of honor for his “patriotic concern and love” for the Serb-controlled half of Bosnia.

Separatist politician Milorad Dodik has been sworn in as president of Bosnia’s Serb-run part and he pledged to pursue good ties with Russia, China and other like-minded countries.

The European Union is in the midst of yet another goodwill trip through the Western Balkans to drum up support for the 27-nation bloc.

An election recount has confirmed a staunchly pro-Russia Bosnian Serb leader’s victory over an opposition challenger who accused him of vote-rigging in the contest for the presidency of Bosnia’s Serb-run part.

Amid widespread reports of fraud in Bosnia’s general election, the ethnically divided country’s top electoral body has announced it will conduct a recount of a Bosnian Serb presidential ballot allegedly rigged by a staunchly pro-Russian leader.

Thousands have rallied in Bosnia for the second time in a week, alleging that a pro-Russian Bosnian Serb leader rigged the presidential vote during Bosnia’s general election.

Bosnia’s election authorities are voicing concerns over widespread problems at polling stations and reports of irregularities and vote-rigging in the general election last weekend.

The Russian leader is pushing pan-Slavic unity to keep two Balkan states out of the EU and NATO.

Bosnia’s long-entrenched sectarian parties are poised to be the overall winners of the country’s general election despite symbolic successes by some opposition candidates who ran on a corruption-fighting agenda.

Polls opened in Bosnia on Sunday for a general election that is unlikely to bring any structural change despite palpable disappointment in the small, ethnically divided Balkan country's political leaders.

Bosnia’s general election should be about fighting rampant corruption and the country’s ailing economy.

Bosnian Serb separatist leader Milorad Dodik is facing an election this weekend and he has blasted the West and praised Vladimir Putin over his policies in the Balkans.

The U.S. government has imposed sanctions on a Bosnian state prosecutor who is accused of being complicit in corruption and undermining democratic processes or institutions in the Western Balkans.

Bosnian Serb separatist leader Milorad Dodik has met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.

The U_S_ Embassy in Sarajevo has described claims by the Bosnian Serb leader that his security services are eavesdropping on the American ambassador to Sarajevo as “blustering.”.

The leader of Bosnia’s Serbs says he hopes former U.S. President Donald Trump returns to power.

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) — The leader of Bosnia's Serbs said Sunday he hoped former U.S. President Donald Trump would return to power and that the Serbs would “wait for appropriate global circumstances” to reach for their goal of seceding from Bosnia, which he called an “unsustainable state.” Milorad Dodik, who was a rare European official to hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin since the war in Ukraine started in late February, made the comments at a gathering marking the start of a bloody breakup of Bosnia 30 years ago.

British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss is in Bosnia’s capital to reaffirm the U.K.’s commitment to the ethnically divided Balkan country amid growing fears of malign influence from Russia.

Serbia has displayed a recently delivered sophisticated Chinese anti-aircraft missile system at an event at a military airport near Belgrade, the capital.

Britain has announced sanctions against Bosnian-Serb politicians Milorad Dodik and Zeljka Cvijanovic, censuring them for attempts to undermine the legitimacy of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Britain has sanctioned two leading Bosnian-Serb politicians.

Some European countries watching Russia’s brutal war in Ukraine fear they could be next.

A country stitched together after genocide is unraveling amid a debate about the reality of those crimes.

The European Union's top diplomat says the bloc is ready to use all tools available to prevent the possible breakup up of ethnically divided Bosnia.

The European Union’s foreign policy chief says he’s deeply concerned about tensions in Bosnia and has appealed to leaders there to avoid the breakup of the Balkan country.

The European Union's foreign policy chief said Sunday that he's deeply concerned about tensions in Bosnia and has appealed to leaders there to avoid the breakup of the Balkan country. Last month, the Biden administration announced new sanctions against Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik, who has for years been advocating that the Serb-run part of Bosnia leave the rest of the country and unite with neighboring Serbia.

Almost 30 years after the U.S. forged a peace deal to end the vicious Bosnian War, the fragile 3-way government that deal created is being tested like never before

The war in the mid-1990s left more 100,000 people dead amid proven ethnic cleansing. Almost 3 decades later, the old tensions are being rekindled.

Under growing international pressure over their leader's secessionist aspirations, Bosnian Serbs have celebrated an outlawed holiday with a provocative parade showcasing armored vehicles, police helicopters and law enforcement officers with rifles, marching in lockstep and singing a nationalist song.

BANJA LUKA, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) — Amid Bosnia’s greatest political crisis since the end of its 1992-95 interethnic war, the country’s Serbs celebrated an outlawed holiday Sunday with a provocative parade showcasing armored vehicles, police helicopters and law enforcement officers with rifles, marching in lockstep and singing a nationalist song. Addressing several thousand spectators gathered in Banja Luka, the de-facto capital of the Serb-run part of the country, Bosnian Serb nationalist leader Milorad Dodik disparaged sanctions Washington slapped on him last week over his alleged corrupt activities and threats to tear the country apart. “This gathering is the best response to those who deny us our rights, … who keep imposing sanctions on us,” Dodik said.

Bosnian Serb leader responds to new U.S. sanctions saying the days when the U.S. and other Western democracies "modeled Bosnia to their taste" are long gone.

The Biden administration has announced sanctions against Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik, accusing him of “corrupt activities” that threaten to destabilize the region and undermine peace accords.

The German government has dropped plans to give the country's highest honor to an Israeli historian amid criticism of his work on the genocide in Bosnia. German news agency dpa reported Friday that the Foreign Ministry has withdrawn its nomination for Gideon Greif to receive Germany's Order of Merit. Greif, who has done extensive work on the Holocaust, was part of an international panel of historians who in June published a lengthy report that suggested the 1995 killing of thousands of Muslims in Srebrenica didn't constitute genocide.

Bosnian officials and religious leaders have denounced suggestions voiced by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and his spokesman that the integration of Bosnia into the European Union will be challenging because of its large Muslim population.

Germany’s new foreign minister says the European Union should slap sanctions on Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik for his efforts to get Serb-dominated areas in Bosnia to secede from the Balkan country.

The Bosnian Serb parliament has vote to launch a series of steps that would weaken the war-ravaged Balkan country’s central institutions as the Bosnian Serb leader stepped up his secession campaign despite a threat of new U.S. sanctions.

A senior U.S. official says Washington remains committed to maintaining peace and stability in Bosnia despite recent challenges by some of its Serb nationalist leaders to the U.S.-brokered Dayton peace agreement.

A senior U.S. diplomat says he's received assurances from members of Bosnia’s presidency there will be no repeat of armed clashes in the war-scarred nation despite deep tensions triggered by Bosnian Serb separatist moves.

The chief international representative in Bosnia is warning that the war-scarred Balkan nation could face the biggest “existential threat of the post-war period” if the international community does not curb threatened separatist actions by Bosnian Serbs.

Bosnia’s Serb police have held an “anti-terrorist” drill just outside the capital Sarajevo, in a move seen by many as another provocation by the country's separatist leadership.

Several thousand people have rallied in Bosnia against the government in the Serb-dominated part of the Balkan nation.

A German diplomat has taken office as the top international official in Bosnia.

Bosnian Serb political leaders have pledged to block decision-making in the country's institutions to protest a recent move by the top international envoy in Bosnia to outlaw genocide denial.

The top international official in Bosnia has outlawed denial of genocide in the Balkan country.

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) — The top international official in Bosnia on Friday banned denial of genocide in the Balkan country to counter attempts by Bosnia’s Serbs to deny the scope of the 1995 massacre in Srebrenica, Europe's only post-World War II genocide. The killings of more than 8,000 Bosniaks by Bosnian Serb forces in Srebrenica was declared a genocide by the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court for Former Yugoslavia.

A German diplomat has been chosen to head a powerful international body in Bosnia that oversees implementation of a 1995 peace agreement that ended a devastating war in the Balkan country.

North Macedonian epidemiologist Dragan Danilovski compared the current vaccine situation in the Western Balkans to the inequalities seen during the 1911 sinking of the Titanic. Serbia is the only Western Balkan nation to receive vaccine shots so far, getting deliveries from Pfizer-BioNTech and the Russian-developed Sputnik V vaccine. However, Serbia does not have enough doses to begin mass vaccinations, as only 25,000 shots of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and 2,400 of the Russian vaccine have arrived. “Throughout the pandemic, the EU has shown that we treat the Western Balkans as privileged partners,” said EU Enlargement Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi. “I trust (the Russian vaccine), I don’t trust the commercial narratives that are coming from the West,” Milorad Dodik, Bosnian Serb's leader, declared before he was hospitalized with coronavirus.

Bosnian Serb member of the tripartite Presidency of Bosnia Milorad Dodik, right, welcomes Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov at the start of their meeting in the capital Sarajevo, Bosnia, Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2020. (AP Photo/Kemal Softic)SARAJEVO – SARAJEVO, Bosnia-An Orthodox icon presented to Russia's foreign minister had not been stolen from the Ukraine, the office of Bosnia's Serb leader said Tuesday, amid an international diplomatic spat over its origins. The presiding Serb member of Bosnia’s three-member presidency, Milorad Dodik, gifted the gilded icon to Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov when he visited Bosnia on Dec. 14. Russia’s foreign ministry said Saturday it would return the icon to the Bosnian Serbs for an international police investigation about its origin. The statement did not say how Dodik came to possess the religious artwork or how it was brought to Bosnia.

(AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea has added 1,092 new coronavirus cases in a resurgence that is erasing hard-won epidemiological gains and eroding public confidence in the government’s ability to handle the outbreak. It would deliver long-sought cash to businesses and individuals and resources to vaccinate a nation confronting a frightening surge in COVID-19 cases and deaths. Preliminary data on U.S. deaths show the coronavirus pandemic contributing to a 15% or more increase in deaths over last year. ___MEXICO CITY — Mexican officials have reported a new daily high in confirmed coronavirus cases as the country awaits its first shipment of vaccine. ___WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. — The Navajo Nation is reporting 151 new coronavirus cases and seven more deaths related to COVID-19.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, left, listens Bosnian Serb official Milorad Dodik, who is the member of Bosnia's multi-ethnic presidency during a press conference after their talks in the capital Sarajevo, Bosnia, Monday, Dec. 14, 2020. Lavrov is on a two-day visit to Bosnia. (AP Photo/Kemal Softic)MOSCOW – Russia said Saturday it will return an Orthodox icon presented to the Russian foreign minister in Bosnia, a gift that has triggered a protest from Ukraine. The presiding Serb member of Bosnia’s three-member presidency, Milorad Dodik, gave the icon to Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov when he visited Sarajevo earlier this week. On Saturday, Russia's Foreign Ministry said the icon would be returned to Bosnia pending an Interpol probe to clarify its origins.

LJUBLJANA – Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa endorsed U.S. President Donald Trump’s reelection on Friday, saying Joe Biden would be a weak leader. With a tweet, Jansa added his name to a list of regional leaders who have openly supported Trump during the election campaign. Go, win, Donald Trump,” Jansa said. Also Friday, the Serb member of Bosnia's three-member presidency, Milorad Dodik, urged Serbs living in the U.S. to vote for Trump. Right-wing conservatives in Eastern and Central Europe, like Orban, Vucic and Jansa, have sometimes copied Trump’s style of leadership.

SARAJEVO – SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Bosnian Serb authorities on Wednesday held an official commemoration for a top former wartime leader, despite his war crimes conviction by a U.N. court. The gathering illustrates the continued Bosnian Serb denial of their wartime leaders’ role in the atrocities committed against non-Serbs during the 1992-95 war in Bosnia. A leading Bosnian Serb official, Milorad Dodik, who is the member of Bosnia's multi-ethnic presidency, praised Krajsnik's “historic role” in establishing the Serb entity in Bosnia, according to Bosnian Serb broadcaster RTRS. He was a close aide to Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, who was convicted of genocide by the Hague tribunal. Bosnian Serb forces took control of large swaths of Bosnian territory, expelling Bosniaks, who are mostly Muslims, and Croats from their homes and brutally killing thousands.

In this grab taken from video migrants who were directed off a railroad by police blocking the path gather, in Bosanska Otoka, Bosnia, Monday, Aug. 24, 2020. Bosnias quarreling ethnic leaders have put migrants amassed in the country while seeking entry to Europe at the center of a a political tug-of-war. Krajina authorities began enforcing their decision to ban all new migrants arrivals in the last three days. Migrants mostly enter Bosnia across the Drina River, on its eastern border with Serbia. Local authorities in Krajina have long accused Bosnia's central government of subjecting the migration crisis to political infighting and failing to provide them with any practical help.