Bosnian Serb leader defends awarding Putin with medal of honor

BELGRADE, Serbia

Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik said Wednesday that he awarded Russian President Vladimir Putin the highest medal of honor because Russia is the most honest guarantor of peace in Bosnia Herzegovina.

The decision has nothing to do with the war in Ukraine, he said.

"Russia has proven to be the most honest guarantor of the Dayton Peace Agreement," said Dodik, adding that he may present an insignia to the US president and German chancellor in the coming years.

The 1995 Dayton Accords ended the war between Bosnian Serbs, Croats and Muslim Bosniaks.

Dodik awarded Putin the medal on Sunday for his “patriotic concern and love” for Republika Srpska, the Serb-controlled half of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

A ceremony was held in Banja Luka to commemorate the National Day of Republika Srpska, when Bosnian Serbs declared their state in Bosnia on Jan. 9, 1992.

Dodik is expected to visit Russia where he will present the medal to Putin.

Meanwhile, Bosnian Serbs celebrated the anniversary of the founding of the small entity in defiance of a top court ruling in Bosnia.

Bosnian Serbs consider Jan. 9 their state's most important holiday.

However, in late November 2015, Bosnia's Constitutional Court ruled that celebrating Republika Srpska Statehood Day could be discriminatory to other ethnic groups in the country.

The Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina was established by the Dayton Peace Agreement that ended the Bosnian War. It consists of two Bosniaks, two Serbs, two Croats and three foreign judges and its decisions are legally binding.

But Serbs in Republika Srpska overwhelmingly passed a controversial referendum on a "national holiday" in September 2016.

More than 99% of voters in the Serb-majority territory chose to make Jan. 9 “Statehood Day,” fueling fears that the referendum could be a first step toward seeking independence from Bosnia and Herzegovina, a country torn by violent ethnic conflict in the 1990s.

Prosecutors also summoned Dodik to testify about the controversial referendum on his entity's "national holiday."