Der Standard: EU considering accelerated sanctions against Putin's ally Milorad Dodik

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - Diplomatic circles in the European Union are "now considering the rapid implementation of targeted sanctions – including the blocking of Swift data.

High Representative Christian Schmidt could also suspend Dodik, as well as the institutions of Republika Srpska, to prevent steps towards declaring independence," writes Adelheid Wolf in the Austrian newspaper Der Standard.

Referring to Dodik's performance yesterday in the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, when he left the session, she points out that the support that the political leader of Bosnian Serbs had among some EU countries, especially Croatia and Hungary, is rapidly melting away, politicki.ba reports.

"Diplomats have been warning for days that Russia will also recognize Republika Srpska as an independent state, and that Dodik could use the situation in Ukraine for his secession project.

Dodik has spoken in recent days about the "hysteria of Western partners" regarding the approach to Russia and Ukraine.

"I am neither on the side of Ukraine nor on the side of Russia, but now it is clear why they tried to sell weapons to Ukraine in 2014," he explained.

Der Standard also writes that two former high representatives, Christian Schwarz-Schilling and Valentin Inzko, have called on NATO and the EU in letters to act decisively in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Handelsblatt, on the other hand, announces that awareness is "maturing in the Union that the Western Balkans, and especially BiH, threatened by Putin's attacks, must be admitted to the EU as soon as possible for geopolitical reasons.

Blocking the admission of new members is on the way to becoming a thing of the past.

In a joint text by Eva Fischer, Christopher Herwatz and Anis Mičijević, they report that "after Russia's attack on Ukraine, proponents of EU enlargement see opportunities for more intensive negotiations with existing membership candidates. Several Western Balkan countries have been fighting for membership in the international community for years," they state.

They also quote numerous officials from the EU and the region who warn that circumstances have fundamentally changed, that Putin is not giving up on destabilizing Europe and the West in general, and that action must be taken.

"The Western Balkans could be the next target of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Besides Serbia, which is already very pro-Russian, this particularly concerns Bosnia and Herzegovina, the most fragile country in the Western Balkans.

There, Moscow supports politicians who further endanger the country's already shaky stability, such as Milorad Dodik, a member of the three-member Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, who advocates for the secession of Republika Srpska.

The area predominantly inhabited by the Serbian population is one of the two constituent parts of the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina, along with the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and occupies about half of BiH by area.

In Bosnia and Herzegovina, they see themselves as the second front of a possible confrontation with Russia, after Ukraine," warns Green MEP Romeo Franz. Dodik's biggest ally is Putin. "The EU must understand this connection and act immediately," he wrote on Twitter.