Press release on Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's upcoming meeting with President of Republika Srpska (Bosnia and Herzegovina) Milorad Dodik
8 September 2025 12:17
1427-08-09-2025
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will meet with President of Republika Srpska (part of Bosnia and Herzegovina) Milorad Dodik in Moscow on September 9.
The participants will discuss urgent issues of strengthening Russia's partnership with Republika Srpska, the post-conflict settlement in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the state of affairs in the Western Balkans.
The political dialogue with Republika Srpska is intensive and unfaltering. President Putin met with President of Republika Srpska Milorad Dodik in Kazan on February 21 and October 25, 2024, in St Petersburg on June 6, 2024, and in Moscow on April 1, 2025. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met with the leader of the Serbs of Bosnia and Herzegovina on the sidelines of the Antalya Diplomatic Forum on March 1, 2024. The delegation of Republika Srpska led by President Dodik attended the celebrations of the 80th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War on May 9, 2025 in Moscow.
Russia-Republika Srpska partnership relies on mutual respect, the striving to improve cooperation, and close approaches to current international issues. Despite the growing pressure from the West, Republika Srpska has adopted a consistent, constructive and responsible position on the situation in Ukraine. We appreciate Banja Luka's efforts to ensure Bosnia and Herzegovina's neutral status and its refusal to join the illegal anti-Russia restrictions imposed by the EU.
Inter-parliamentary cooperation is making wide strides. President of the National Assembly of Republika Srpska Nenad Stevandic paid working visits to Moscow on March 17-22, 2024 and November 6-10, 2024. In June 2025, a joint Commission on Cooperation between the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation and the National Assembly of Republika Srpska became operational.
The legal framework is being improved. In 2024-2025, memoranda of cooperation were signed between the Ministry of Higher Education and Science of the Russian Federation and the Ministry of Scientific and Technological Development and Higher Education of Republika Srpska, and between the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation and the Ministry of Education and Culture of Republika Srpska. A memorandum of understanding for preventing and providing relief to emergency situations was signed between the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia and the Republican Civil Defence Directorate of Republika Srpska.
Relations between Russian regions, primarily St Petersburg and the Republic of Tatarstan, as well as the Nizhny Novgorod, Sverdlovsk and Ivanovo regions and Republika Srpska are expanding.
Republika Srpska shows growing interest in Russian research and culture. About 12,000 schoolchildren are studying the Russian language in that country. A Russkiy Mir Foundation-run centre has been operational in Banja Luka since 2012. Inter-university ties are making strides. Citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina are annually provided publicly-funded scholarships for studying at Russian universities (the quota for the 2024/2025 academic year is 40 spots, for the 2025/2026 academic year is up at 65 spots). In May 2024, Days of Russia were held in Republika Srpska.
Cooperation in the war memorial area is going strong. Following the tradition, mass participation Immortal Regiment marches are held in the cities of Republika Srpska, in which the leadership of Republika Srpska takes part. In 2025, the marches were held in the cities of Banja Luka, Srbac and Trebinje.
In recent years, there has been a serious aggravation of the internal political situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, provoked by the growing neocolonialist interference of the West in the internal affairs of Republika Srpska, including the efforts of the self-proclaimed High Representative Christian Schmidt (FRG).
Russia strongly condemns the Westerners' attempts to use dishonest methods in order to remove from the political scene the legally elected and legitimate President of Republika Srpska Milorad Dodik. The unjust guilty verdict handed down to him on a fabricated criminal case, coupled with the politically motivated decision of the Central Election Commission of BiH to revoke President Dodik's presidential mandate, carries significant destabilising potential.
Moscow is convinced of the need to return the situation to the legal democratic field. To do so, the Office of the High Representative, which has become the main generator of problems in Bosnia and Herzegovina, must be immediately closed, direct dialogue between the Bosnian parties resumed, and Western interference in internal Bosnian affairs stopped.
We reaffirm the Russian Federation's commitment to implementing the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country, the equality of the three constituent ethnicities - Bosniaks, Serbs and Croats - and the broad powers of the two entities - Republika Srpska and the Federation of BiH - that are enshrined in the 1995 General Framework (Dayton) Agreement for Peace in BiH.
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