Bipartisan Congress Presses Trump Administration to Sanction Bosnian Serb Officials

A bipartisan coalition of senior members of Congress, including Senate Foreign Relations ranking member Jeanne Shaheen and Senate Armed Services Chair Roger Wicker, called on the Trump administration to impose sanctions on Bosnian Serb officials after Republika Srpska authorities interrogated authors of a genocide-denial report. The lawmakers cited the annual defense legislation that obliges the president to sanction individuals who threaten security or territorial integrity in the Western Balkans.

They expressed concern over the questioning of current and former employees of the Srebrenica Memorial Center. The White House and State Department have not responded to inquiries. Earlier this year the same legislators wrote to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Secretary of State Marco Rubio urging sanctions on former Republika Srpska President Milorad Dodik, whose calls for secession revived fears of a repeat of the 1990s conflict.

Dodik’s sanctions were lifted last year, and he was later welcomed to Washington before being removed from office for breaching Bosnia’s peace accords. Analysts note that the region’s lobbying of the Trump administration and uncertainty over the UN high representative could affect unrelated US projects, such as a proposed $1 billion pipeline.