Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik announced on March 31 that he had arrived in Moscow after prosecutors in Bosnia-Herzegovina requested an international arrest warrant over accusations that he flouted the Balkan country's constitution.
Dodik posted a video of himself on social media in front of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier along the wall of the Kremlin.
"I start every time I stay here with a visit to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier to pay my respects to the 28 million Russians who died in World War II," Dodik said in the video posted on X.
He provided no agenda for his visit but said he would "be here again on May 9 at the invitation of the president of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, to mark the 80th anniversary of the victory over fascism."
Dodik, who is the president of Republika Srpska, is currently under US and U.K. sanctions for actions Western governments say are aimed at the secession of Republika Srpska from Bosnia.
The Court of Bosnia-Herzegovina on March 27 requested the international arrest warrant after Dodik failed to respond to a summons from the Prosecutor-General's Office on suspicion that he committed the criminal offense of attacking the constitutional order of Bosnia. The move came after the court issued a national arrest warrant on March 18.
Dodik spoke in the video of the suffering of Russians and Serbs in the defeat of fascism.
SEE ALSO: Bosnian Serb Leader Dodik Once Again Moves Country Closer To The Brink"Some are trying to revise history. It is impossible to do so, but those who want to do so are openly trying to distort historical facts," he said. "But the historical fact about the suffering of the Russian and Serbian people, and the Jewish people during World War II is simply impossible to change."
Dodik also spoke highly of Putin, with whom he has met several times since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and who he said is "the historic leader of the Russian people."
He added Putin has welcomed "another counterpart who is important to him in the fight against the globalist elite, and that is [US] President [Donald] Trump."
The Bosnian court requested the international arrest warrant for Dodik and for Nenad Stevandic, speaker of the Republika Srpska Parliament, on suspicion of the same crime, attacking the constitutional order of Bosnia.
Dodik announced his arrival in Moscow on March 29 but did not provide details. The day before, he gave a statement to Radio Television of the Republika Srpska (RTRS) regarding flooding in Republika Srpska. It was not clear from the video where he was.
Republika Srpska in mid-March adopted a draft of a new constitution that would redefine the Serb entity as a state of the Serbian people, grant it the right to self-determination, and establish its own army.
These provisions would be directly in conflict with the Bosnian Constitution and the Dayton peace accords, which established Republika Srpska as one of Bosnia's two entities.
Throughout his tenure as president of Republika Srpska, Dodik has faced criticism for authoritarian tendencies, undermining democratic institutions, and fostering a culture of political patronage.
Supporters argue that he has brought stability and development to the entity, while opponents charge that his leadership has deepened divisions among the country's ethnic communities and eroded the state's institutional integrity.