Russian President Vladimir Putin awarded Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik with the Order of Alexander Nevsky, weeks after the two officials met in Moscow, RT Balkans reported.

Dodik was awarded for a “great contribution to the development of cultural-humanitarian ties of the peoples of the Russian Federation and Bosnia and Herzegovina,” according to Russian media.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic received the same award in 2019.

The recognition comes after Dodik and Putin’s meeting in Moscow late May, where the president of Bosnia’s Serb-majority Republika Srpska entity said Russia was “simply forced” into military operation in Ukraine.