Milorad Dodik

Milorad Dodik (Serbian Cyrillic: Милорад Додик, pronounced [mîloraːd dǒdik]; born 12 March 1959) is a Bosnian Serb politician who served as the 8th President of Republika Srpska from 2022 until his removal from office in 2025. Having previously held the office from 2010 to 2018, he also served as the 7th Serb member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina from 2018 to 2022. Dodik has been the president of the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD) since its formation in 1996 and has held several political offices within Republika Srpska, the Serb-majority entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. He served as the prime minister of Republika Srpska from 1998 to 2001 and again from 2006 to 2010. In February 2025, the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina sentenced Dodik to one year's imprisonment and forbade him from political activity for six years due to defying decisions by the High Representative. The verdict was confirmed in August 2025. The one-year prison sentence was subsequently commuted to a fine. On 18 August, Dodik's appeal was rejected and his mandate as president was officially terminated, with the termination date marked as 12 June 2025. The National Assembly of Republika Srpska initially disputed this decision, but ultimately accepted it in October 2025. Initially, both Dodik and the SNSD were viewed as moderate and reformist alternatives to the ultranationalist Serb Democratic Party during the 1990s and early 2000s. However, since then, both Dodik and the SNSD have adopted a more Serbian nationalist and separatist stance, advocating for the right of Bosnian Serbs to self-determination. His tenure has been marked by accusations of authoritarianism from his critics, the undermining of federal Bosnian institutions, and closer ties with both Russia and Serbia.