Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán hosted Milorad Dodik, the president of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Serb-majority entity, Republika Srpska, for talks in Budapest on Tuesday. Dodik later said the discussions would focus on strategic cooperation in energy and agriculture.
Dodik described Hungary as a country that protects its borders, population and way of life, calling it a natural ally of Republika Srpska.
“While some in the West threaten to relocate migrants to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Hungary demonstrates how a state can defend itself both at its borders and through its institutions,” Dodik wrote on X.
Orbán said Hungary does not recognise the recent Bosnian court ruling against Dodik, which sentenced him to one year in prison and barred him from holding office for six years. The charges stemmed from Dodik’s refusal to enforce decisions issued by the international High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina, an unelected official empowered under the 1995 Dayton Agreement to oversee implementation of the peace deal and intervene in the country’s governance. Dodik has long rejected the authority of the High Representative.
“He is the legitimate, democratically elected leader of Republika Srpska. We firmly oppose Brussels’ interference in sovereign matters. Nothing can stand above the will of the people,” Orbán said.
