Bosnian Serb Govt ‘Ends Cooperation’ With UK, US Embassies

The government of Republika Srpska, one of two entities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, said it would "end cooperation" with US and UK embassies in the country from Thursday, in reaction to recently imposed US sanctions on the director of the Administration for Geodetic and Property Affairs of Republika Srpska, RUGIPP, Dragan Stankovic.

"The government of the Republika Srpska states that the Republika Srpska is forced to end cooperation with the diplomats of both embassies," the entity government said, accusing both countries of "interfering with internal affairs in Bosnia".

"It asks the institutions of the Republika Srpska, representatives of the Republika Srpska in joint institutions at Bosnian level, local government bodies in the Republika Srpska, as well as other public authorities not to cooperate with the US and UK embassies," the decision added. 

Stankovic headed up the first Law on Immovable Property in the RS, which was declared unconstitutional at state level in September last year. By doing so, the US said Stankovic had "undermined the 1995 Dayton peace accords", which ended the 1992-95 war in Bosnia.

Milorad Dodik, President of Republika Srpska and leader of the ruling Alliance of Independent Social Democrats, SNSD, which has a majority in the Republika Srpska assembly, as well as in the RS government, announced the move after Stankovic was sanctioned.

Kurt Bassuener, co-founder and senior associate at the Berlin-based Democratisation Policy Council, DPC, said it remains to see what this decision means in practice. 

"Dodik can't order House of Representatives deputies to not talk to American or British officials, though one might expect SNSD members to adhere. But it also remains unclear whether he'll even have...