The U.S. Embassy in Sarajevo says no government should expand its cooperation with Russia while it continues its aggression in Ukraine in response to a comment by the Kremlin's spokesman about the possible strengthening of relations between Russia and the Serb-dominated entity of Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Russia's "brutal and unprovoked war against Ukraine has highlighted the urgent need for all countries in the Western Balkans to carry out democratic and other reforms needed for the process of integration in the Euro-Atlantic institutions," the statement said.
The United States will stand by the citizens of Bosnia "while they build a more prosperous and more secure future in the Euro-Atlantic community," it said.
The statement came on May 12 in response to an RFE/RL request for comment after Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov spoke of a possible strengthening of ties between Russia and Republika Srpska, whose president, Milorad Dodik, is scheduled to travel this month to Moscow for a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Peskov said in an interview with ATV, a local TV station in Banja Luka, the administrative center of Republika Srpska, that Moscow expects that Serbia and Republika Srpska will not "bow down to Western pressures" and join the sanctions of the international community against Russia.
Putin's spokesman has said that officials in Belgrade are under a lot more pressure from the West to impose sanctions on Russia than authorities in Republika Srpska, who are inhibiting the implementation of sanctions against Russia by Bosnia.
Peskov added that Russia's point of view is that its relations with Republika Srpska "will continue to develop, and they will only get stronger in all areas."
The interview, broadcast on May 10, was recorded in Moscow and conducted in Russian.
The U.S. Treasury Department in January 2022 put Dodik on the sanctions list over alleged corrupt activities, actions undermining the Dayton peace accords, and threats to the stability of Bosnia and the wider region.
ATV was also designated for sanctions because of its ties with Dodik, who is the leader of the top Bosnian Serb political party, the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD).
In a separate interview aired on the national broadcaster of Republika Srpska (RTRS) the same day as the Peskov interview, Dodik said that he'll meet Putin in Moscow on May 23.