Pro-Russian Bosnian Serb leader Dodik surfaces in Moscow amid charges in Bosnia

Pro-Russian Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik, who faces charges in Bosnia and Herzegovina for undermining the constitutional order, has arrived in Moscow, he said in a video message on March 31.

"I have arrived in Moscow," he announced on X, without addressing speculation that he was fleeing justice. On April 1, the Kremlin posted footage of Russian President Vladimir Putin shaking hands with Dodik, saying he was "very happy" to see him in the Russian capital.

Dodik, the former Bosnian president and current leader of Republika Srpska, was sentenced in absentia in February to a year in prison and barred from political activity for six years for defying rulings by the U.N. High Representative in Bosnia.

In 2023, Dodik pushed a bill to block the implementation of decisions by Bosnia's Constitutional Court and the U.N. High Representative, Christian Schmidt. Authorities initially issued an internal arrest warrant but hesitated to detain him, fearing political unrest.

On March 27, as the Bosnian Serb leader prepared to leave the country, a Sarajevo court issued an international arrest warrant, Politico reported.

Last week, Dodik traveled to Belgrade before heading to Jerusalem for an anti-Semitism conference organized by Israel's government. After returning to Belgrade, he disappeared from public view before resurfacing in Moscow.

Dodik has been a vocal supporter of Russia's war against Ukraine, advocating for Republika Srpska's independence from Bosnia and Herzegovina and maintaining close ties with the Kremlin.

His arrival in Moscow follows a pattern of Balkan leaders fleeing to Russia to avoid prosecution. In 2001, former Yugoslav Defense Minister Veljko Kadijevic fled to Moscow to evade a potential war crimes indictment by The Hague.