The President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin received the President of the Bosnian Republika Srpska Milorad Dodik in the Kremlin, who arrived in Moscow last night, the press secretary of the Russian leader Dmitry Peskov told journalists today, quoted by TASS, BTA reports.
"I am glad to see you in Moscow", Putin said at the beginning of the meeting.
The leader of the Bosnian Serbs arrived in Moscow despite the international warrant for his arrest issued by the Interpol office in Sarajevo, the agency notes.
At the same time, Dodik denied information that he had received Russian citizenship.
"I neither asked for citizenship of the Russian Federation, nor have I received one," he told Sputnik exclusively Serbia the President of the Republika Srpska.
The media notes that in this way Dodik refuted "fake news" on the Bosnian portal "Faktor", according to which he had received Russian citizenship.
Earlier, Dodik published a video message on the social network Ex, in which he stated that each of his visits to the Russian capital begins with paying homage to the Monument to the Unknown Soldier, and that he plans to visit Moscow again on May 9.
"I have arrived in Moscow. I start each of my stays here with a visit to the Monument to the Unknown Soldier to pay homage to the 28 million Russians who died in World War II. "I will be here again on May 9 at the invitation of the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the victory over fascism," Dodik said in the video on Ex.
On February 26, Milorad Dodik was sentenced by a Bosnian court to one year in prison and a six-year ban on political activity for failing to comply with the decisions of the High Representative of the international community, Christian Schmidt. The next day, in response, the parliament of Republika Srpska adopted laws banning the work of a number of central Bosnian institutions on its territory. On March 17, the court of Bosnia and Herzegovina issued an arrest warrant for Dodik and two other members of the parliament of Republika Srpska.