The president of Republika Srpska, Milorad Dodik, has dismissed the bloc's fears of Russia as irrational

The EU should stop vilifying Russia and its leader, Vladimir Putin, the president of Republika Srpska, Milorad Dodik, has said. The Serb leader of the autonomous region within Bosnia and Herzegovina also dismissed claims that Moscow harbors aggressive plans against EU countries.

In an interview with Switzerland's Die Weltwoche magazine on Wednesday, Dodik said the "Russian point of view is that the war in Ukraine had been imposed [on] Russia by the Western, global elite." He went on to cite Boris Johnson's alleged role in the derailment of peace negotiations between Moscow and Kiev in Istanbul, Trkiye in 2022. Russian officials have since claimed that the then-UK prime minister persuaded Ukraine not to sign a deal and "just continue fighting."

In November 2023, David Arakhamia, an MP allied with Zelensky who led the Ukrainian delegation, confirmed that this was the case. Johnson has denied the allegation.

According to Dodik, "the Russians have learned that they cannot trust the West because the West lies all the time." He referenced the admissions by former German Chancellor Angela Merkel and former French President Francois Hollande that the 2014-15 Minsk agreements had been a mere ploy to help Kiev build up its military capabilities.

Commenting on concerns among some EU member states that Russia may be planning an attack on the bloc's eastern members, Dodik said, "I think that this is not a rational explanation or expectation, and that Putin has no aspirations whatsoever toward those states."

Asked for his recommendations to Brussels on dealing with Russia, he argued that "they should, first of all, stop demonizing Putin and demonizing Russia, and trying to invent a narrative that would back that up."

According to Dodik, the Russian president appears to want to engage with US President Donald Trump, while having no wish to "talk with Europe."

He suggested that in his talks with Moscow, Trump "should take into consideration and respect the Russian requirements, the Russian requests," and aim for a "comprehensive agreement," as opposed to one narrowly focusing only on Ukraine.

Speaking to Serbian media this week, Dodik defied top EU diplomat Kaja Kallas' warning to EU candidate nations, demanding that they not "take part in the May 9 [WWII Victory Day] events in Moscow."

"I want to be there and I will go," the Bosnian Serb leader said, adding that he does not fear any potential repercussions from Brussels.