Recently, after all the moves of the President of the entity of Republika Srpska Milorad Dodik, there has been a significant change in the rhetoric and actions of the US government towards Bosnia and Herzegovina, says a senior associate of the Institute for Development Impact from Washington Adnan Hadrović in an interview with FENA.

This former BiH diplomat says that the relations between BiH and the United States of America, that is, the relations of the United States towards BiH, are relations of continuity, from the moment of recognition to the present day.

- That relationship is a relationship of continuity and there were no changes, regardless of whether it was a democratic or republican administration - he said.

Significant change

As he says, recently, after all the moves of the President of the entity of Republika Srpska Milorad Dodik, there has been a significant change in the rhetoric and actions of the US government towards Bosnia and Herzegovina.

As an example, he took the address of the special envoy of the United States of America for the Western Balkans, Gabriel Escobar, two weeks ago on Capitol Hill. At that time, very precise and direct messages were sent to Bosnia and Herzegovina, that is, to Milorad Dodik and his regime.

- Sanctions against him have been in force for years. However, the US administration itself is aware that sanctions as such do not produce results. A wider spectrum of "international players", bilateral and multilateral, are getting involved, in order to sanction Dodik's regime and the RS authorities' secessionist activities in a completely different way - said Hadrović.

He explained that this primarily refers to the denial of financial resources to Dodik and his regime in order for this to lead towards "serious corrective actions" if there is any more space at all, although he believes there is no more space left.

- Mr. Milorad Dodik is currently in a very difficult financial situation. He is well aware of this and that is why he is nervous. He is well aware that by the end of this year, he has to pay more than 550 million dollars to the international institutions where he borrowed. He doesn't have those funds. So now the focus is on the international financial institutions, where the United States will use its authority and power to deny those funds to Mr. Dodik, who practically will no longer be able to finance his external debt - stated Hadrović.

"Very dangerous"

Hadrović commented on the narrative that the United States is no longer the most important strategic partner of Bosnia and Herzegovina to be "very dangerous".

- The United States, from the point of view of Bosnia and Herzegovina, is the first strategic partner of Bosnia and Herzegovina. I would urge anyone who has any intention of changing that narrative to stop it, because it is against the strategic interests of Bosnia and Herzegovina. This is something that is not in the national interest of Bosnia and Herzegovina - says Hadrović.

He believes that the issue should be approached in a totally different way.

- I think that in the last 15 to 20 years, we have not been conducting an adequate policy towards the United States. I would turn it into a question of what we are doing so that these relations are at an adequate level - he warned.

Do not put the burden on the United States

Hadrović says that he would not put the burden on the United States, because the USA is doing absolutely everything in its power to protect the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the state of BiH and to support BiH on its Euro-Atlantic path.

- BiH and its officials need to work a lot more in order to raise BiH much higher on the priority list. Let's not forget that for more than a year, the US has mostly been dealing with the most pressing foreign policy priorities for them: Ukraine, China, Taiwan, establishing strategic relations with India, etc. - says Hadrović.

That's why BiH officials should work to raise Bosnia and Herzegovina to a higher level on that list of priorities.

- Therefore, I would focus more on ours, than on the US officials - concluded Hadrović in an interview with FENA.