BELGRADE, August 1. /TASS/. Republika Srpska (one of Bosnia and Herzegovina's entities) President Milorad Dodik called the BIH Court Appellate Chamber's decision to uphold his earlier conviction for ignoring the decisions of High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina Christian Schmidt "an EU-initiated attack on the region."

"This decision was made by Brussels, led by head of the EU delegation to Bosnia and Herzegovina Luigi Soreca and European Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos. They demanded that the EU show its power. Since the EU cannot do anything about the conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza or tariffs, it is exercising its power here, on us," Dodik said in his address commenting on the verdict. According to the politician, the court's decision was a "political attack on Republika Srpska," which he refuses to recognize.

The Republika Srpska head also said that he will continue to fulfill his duties and will not call snap elections in the entity. Dodik said that the entity "counts on full support" from Serbia and Russia. He announced his desire to abandon European integration and revealed that he would send a letter to the administration of US President Donald Trump, outlining the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

As per the Dayton Agreement, Bosnia and Herzegovina is made up of two primary entities: the Muslim-Croatian Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (51% of the territory) and Republika Srpska (49% of the territory), as well as of the Brcko District. Three main peoples — the Bosniaks (Slavs converted to Islam), the Serbs (Orthodox) and the Croatians (Catholics) — are represented proportionally in the government.

Bosnia and Herzegovina is essentially governed through a high representative (a post created by the 1995 Dayton Agreement), who is appointed by the steering committee of the Peace Implementation Council after approval by the UN Security Council. However, in May 2021, the ambassadors of the steering committee countries decided to appoint Christian Schmidt as the new high representative without approval from the UN Security Council. The Republika Srpska leadership, Russia and China does not recognize Schmidt’s legitimacy.

On February 26, the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina sentenced the Republika Srpska president to a year in prison and a six-year ban on political activity for ignoring Schmidt’s decisions. Later, the Interpol General Secretariat decided not to issue an international arrest warrant for Republika Srpska leaders as part of a request initiated by Sarajevo.