Thewesternbalkans
The suspended president of the Bosnian Serb Republic, Milorad Dodik, on 5 of October 2025, said in an interview with TASS after his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin that he asked him not to exclude the Balkan issue from his dialogue with U.S. President Donald Trump and to try to develop lasting solutions. “I additionally asked the president to pay attention to another issue that could be of great importance in the dialogue Russia is having with the U.S. If an agreement is reached between the two world powers, it is extremely important that attention to the Balkans does not diminish. Perhaps the most appropriate solution would be for Russia and the U.S., as part of their final agreement, to create a commission for the Balkans to help ultimately stabilize the situation in the region by developing lasting solutions and properly organizing the states themselves,” said Dodik.
The meeting between Putin and Dodik took place in Sochi earlier this week on the sidelines of the Valdai Discussion Club meeting. According to Dodik, the meeting with the Russian president “within the allotted time provided an opportunity to discuss all the issues” that the countries had planned. He added that some forms of cooperation in the fields of economy, culture, and sports were discussed.
In this interview with TASS, the President of the Republika Srpska (an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina), Milorad Dodik pointed out that the preparation for a major war is needed by a number of European politicians to conceal internal social problems and maintain power. “The European leaders’ calls for militarization are a manifestation of their inability to find solutions to the social problems they face. Europe, founded on values, has lost all of that. Society is moving away from previously dominant ideas about human rights, the rule of law, freedom of movement, and competition, becoming increasingly fragmented and incoherent,” Dodik said. “The migrants they have accepted have not only failed to change their cultural and other views, but, on the contrary, have become even more united and now openly oppose what they have found in Germany, undermining its social and political structure. All of these are problems for which they have no answers. Obviously, these facts speak for themselves.”
According to Dodik, the situation within the European establishment is close to madness. “The fact is that the current structure in Brussels and the leading countries of Western Europe have destroyed the social and communal framework both of Europe as a whole and of their own countries,” noted the president of the Republika Srpska. “For many reasons, they have annihilated all the advantages Europe once had. Therefore, it is quite logical that they see everything through the prism of militarization and the spreading of fear—both within their own countries and supposedly somewhere beyond their borders.”
“We Serbs have sufficient grounds, based on historical memory, not to view this with approval. The mere call for the militarization of Germany is a catastrophe for us,” he continued. “Every time Germany became militarized, Serbs suffered. In both the First and Second World Wars, and later, when Germany sought dominance in Europe, they orchestrated the breakup of Yugoslavia, which led to civil wars. The Germany of that time is to blame for this.” According to Dodik, “polls show that, for example, the German chancellor has never had such low support since chancellor elections have existed. French President Emmanuel Macron has almost reached a single-digit figure in public trust, it is now around 13-14%”, the agency’s interlocutor noted.
Comment: Valdai Discussion Club meeting is a very special and interesting event, giving the possibility to invited leaders to developpe their ideas including Russian President Vladimir Putin. Russia uses Valdai Discussion Club meetings also for sending messages to the rest of the world, which seems to be the case of the Dodik’s interview for TASS. The messages are very clear – share the influence on Balkans with USA, and give a lesson to Europeans.
On the other side, sixty-six-year-old Dodik is a very suitable interlocuter, known for his pro-Russian and nationalist positions. He has held high government positions for nearly 30 years. Over the past decade, Dodik has advocated for the secession of Respublika Srpska from Bosnia and Herzegovina and its unification with Serbia. He is ready to do everything to conserve his power in the Republic of Srpska, because since August 18, the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina upheld the decision of the Central Election Commission to terminate Milorad Dodik’s mandate after he was convicted of failing to comply with the decisions of the High Representative of the international community in the country.
Photo: kremlin.ru
