Democratic officials and political analysts have voiced concern over how Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik managed to have U.S. sanctions lifted, warning that the move sends a troubling signal to other authoritarian figures facing similar restrictions.
The Trump administration this week lifted sanctions on Dodik, a longtime ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin who was removed from his post as president of Bosnia’s Serb Republic earlier this month for violating the Dayton peace agreement.
The decision followed months of lobbying by Trump allies who portrayed Dodik as a defender of “Christian values” in a Muslim-majority country and a victim of politically motivated legal persecution similar to that faced by Trump himself.
Over two decades in power, Dodik repeatedly threatened secession from Bosnia and “reunification” with Serbia, hindered Bosnia’s EU integration by stoking ethnic tensions, and built what the U.S. Treasury once described as a “corrupt patronage network,” according to CNN.
Following his conviction for undermining the Dayton Accords, a Bosnian court banned him from holding office, leading many in the country to envision a future without his influence. Experts now warn that the unexpected lifting of sanctions could allow Dodik to reassert control in the Serb Republic and demonstrate to other autocrats that well-funded lobbying can yield results in Washington.
“What message does this send – that if you have the right connections and lobbyists, you can be taken off a sanctions list? It sets a negative precedent,” said Andi Hoxhaj, a Balkan expert at King’s College London.
He noted the timing, just weeks before the 30th anniversary of the Dayton Accords, was “particularly discouraging.”
The U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) did not explain the decision to remove sanctions against Dodik and dozens of his associates, relatives, and linked companies. CNN said the Treasury Department did not respond to a request for comment.
The State Department said the decision followed “constructive actions” by the Serb Republic’s parliament to “improve stability” in the country — a reference to the appointment of a temporary president after Dodik’s removal and his eventual compliance with federal authorities earlier this month.
Dodik praised Trump and his allies for what he called the correction of a “grave injustice” inflicted by the Obama and Biden administrations. He did not mention that Trump himself first sanctioned him in 2017 for obstructing the Dayton agreement. The Biden administration imposed additional measures in 2022 and again in early 2025.
Dodik began courting Trump’s support before the 2024 U.S. election, publicly endorsing him as the candidate “America and the world need,” following an assassination attempt against Trump that year.
Since Trump’s return to the White House, several of his associates have advocated for Dodik. Among them is Rod Blagojevich, the former Illinois governor who served eight years in prison on corruption charges before Trump pardoned him in 2020. Blagojevich’s firm, RRB Strategies LLC, registered with the U.S. Justice Department earlier this year to lobby on behalf of the Serb Republic, seeking to lift sanctions and counter what it described as a “witch hunt” against its officials. The contract’s value was not disclosed.
Another lobbyist, Marc Zell, signed a $1 million, one-year contract with Dodik’s government in December 2024, according to filings under the Foreign Agents Registration Act. Zell said a success bonus clause was later removed to comply with U.S. law.
Far-right influencer Laura Loomer, a close Trump ally, joined the campaign this month, describing Dodik’s removal as “the latest example of a brazen attack on Trump-aligned leaders worldwide.” She claimed Dodik, whom she called a “Christian leader,” was under assault from a coalition of “Muslims and globalists.”
Former national security adviser Michael Flynn urged Trump to “embrace” Dodik and align the U.S. with the Serb Republic against “globalists who want us all to fail.”
Disgraced former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, once Trump’s personal lawyer, hosted Dodik on his podcast earlier this year, featuring “Make Srpska Great Again” hats alongside Trump’s MAGA slogan.
Hoxhaj said Dodik would likely use the lifting of sanctions to claim vindication by the U.S.
“He will tell his people the Americans have justified him — that what was done to him was unfair,” Hoxhaj said.
U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen, a senior Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, called the decision “reckless and premature.”
“Dodik has undermined the Dayton Peace Agreement, courted Putin, and profited from corruption — hardly grounds for leniency,” she said. “The American people deserve answers.”