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The US-sanctioned leader of the Serb-controlled half of Bosnia has awarded warmonger Vladimir Putin the territory's highest medal of honour to recognise his "patriotic concern and love".
Milorad Dodik is one of three leaders in the country, in a peculiar arrangement that sees the Muslim Bosniak and the Bosnian Croat populations also represented in presidency.
And despite Putin's horrific aggression in Ukraine, Dodik hailed the Russian President for "developing and strengthening cooperation" between the Kremlin and Republika Srpska, an entity representing Serbs in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
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"Putin is responsible for developing and strengthening cooperation and political and friendly relations between RS (Republika Srpska) and Russia,'' Dodik said.
The award, controversial in itself, comes in conjunction with a more controversial commemoration.
“Republika Srpska Day” – which falls January 9 – was declared illegal and unconstitutional in November 2015.
Bosnia & Herzegovina’s Constitutional Court declared that the event is discriminatory against non-Serbs in the country.
Republika Srpska authorities have continued to mark the day every year since the 2015 declaration, however.
The day marks January 9, 1992, when Republika Srpska was declared as an independent “Republic of the Serb people of Bosnia and Herzegovina”.
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This move led to a bloody war that saw over 100,000 people killed, and saw tensions between the country's three main ethnic groups – Bosnian Serbs, Bosnian Croats and Muslim Bosniaks – reach boiling point.
Putin crony Dodik tried to block Bosnia's tripartite presidency's efforts to join the European Union in sanctions against Russia after Putin kicked off his "special military operation" on February 24, 2022.
"Thanks to the position of Vladimir Putin and the strength of the Russian Federation, the voice and position of Republika Srpska has been heard and respected," he said on Sunday, January 8.
Russian Ambassador Igor Kalbukhov said: "We believe that this award is an affirmation of the strategic determination of our relations aimed at strengthening the friendship of our brotherly people."
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- Vladimir Putin
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