Dodik visit to Washington: a signal for Bosnia-Herzegovina

During the first week of February 2026, the Bosnian Serb President of the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD) party, Milorad Dodik, travelled to Washington, where he held meetings with senior members of the Trump administration and the Republican Party. Among others, he met with the Secretary of Defence, Pete Hegseth, the Deputy Secretary of State, Christopher Landau, and the White House Press Secretary, Karoline Leavitt. Dodik was accompanied by the Serb member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Željka Cvijanović, and the acting President of the Republika Srpska (RS), Ana Trišić-Babić. This visit is particularly interesting, both for its political significance and for the consequences it may entail. 

Dodik’s trip followed President Trump’s decision to lift the sanctions imposed on him, his assets, his family and his associates. Previous US administrations had placed Dodik on the sanctions list of the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) due to his initiatives of secessionist nature, which were in violation of the US-brokered Dayton Peace Accords. Formally, the Administration justified the lifting of sanctions on the grounds of Dodik’s compliance with the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s ruling requiring his removal from the office of President of the RS. At the same time, the RS National Assembly agreed to revoke previously adopted controversial legislation. Nonetheless, Dodik’s secessionist political project does not seem to be abandoned. Documents published by the Bosnia and Herzegovina Foreign Ministry show that he invested $2 million in lobbying efforts towards the Trump’s administration. 

Washington’s political legitimisation of the SNSD President, one of Kremlin’s closest allies in Europe, may send an intriguing signal in support of his Eurosceptic and secessionist vision for Bosnia. The reverberations of this tendency are not merely domestic but also regional, considering Dodik’s close ties with political leaders such as Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić, as well as international. The EU work in assuring the rule of law and democracy in the area may be further complicated, especially in a country that continues to grapple with deep political unsteadiness and rooted territorial cleavages.