The UK has supported the US decision to impose sanctions against Milorad Dodik, the Serb member of Bosnia and Herzegovina's Presidency, amid calls on EU member states to join in punishing the politician labelled by Washington as a direct threat to peace and stability in BiH.

British Foreign Secretary Elizabeth Truss welcomes the statement by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken that the United States would sanction Dodik over “corrupt and destabilizing behavior.”

“Corruption is a threat to freedom, democracy and peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina,” she tweeted, adding that the United Kingdom “welcomes targeted sanctions from” the US.

Czech Deputy Foreign Minister, Martin Dvorzak, told Czech media that it seemed to him one should distance onseself from the support Dodik was getting from politicians such as Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. “I personally have a problem with what I see happening in Bosnia with Viktor Orban’s big support,” he told the Seznam Zpravy portal.

Commenting on the crisis in BiH las month, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock called it worrying and said the existing EU regime of sanctions should be used against Dodik. Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said earlier Hungary would oppose any attempt at EU level to adopt a decision on sanctions against Bosnian Serb leaders whom the West considers responsible for the biggest crisis in BiH since the end of the war in 1995.

“We have friends. It’s not quite like they (the West) are trying to portray it,” Dodik said last night.

He and his associates announced a big celebration of 9 January in Banja Luka, a day they persist to observe as Republika Srpska Day, despite a BiH Constitutional Court ruling that it was an unconstitutional holiday.

One of the reasons the US imposed sanctions against Dodik is his failure to comply with that court’s decisions.