Strache Case: Europe Must Sanction Dodik to Avoid Its Own Troubles

By Armin Aljović

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The leader of the Austrian right-wing party and vice-chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache, who had to resign due to involvement in a corruption affair with Russian businessmen, is one of the close friends of Milorad Dodik, the key figure of Republika Srpska, an entity in BiH, and one of the most prominent players in the Western Balkans for Russian President Vladimir Putin, who, among other things, is settling scores with the West through Dodik.

The influential French writer and philosopher Bernard Henri Levi recently stated that Dodik is Putin's puppet in BiH. "I sincerely believe that Italy is stronger than Salvini. I sincerely believe that the Netherlands is much bigger than Geert Wilders... and as for Marine Le Pen, she is so far from French greatness," Levi said, speaking of populists who threaten to undermine fundamental European values - democracy, adding: "Dodik is one of those populists, I can mention him too, and he is one of Putin's puppets."

The leader of the Austrian right-wing party met with an alleged Russian billionaire in Ibiza in July last year, where they discussed a possible cooperation whereby she would buy Kronen Zeitung, an influential Austrian tabloid, which would strongly support his party in the election campaign, while Strache, as vice-chancellor of the Austrian government, would ensure that the Russian company gets contracts with the Austrian state. Another option was for the Russian billionaire to donate money to the FPÖ, not directly to the party, but through an intermediary, specifically through a non-governmental organization.

After the media published that conversation, Strache and his ministers were forced to leave the government, which shook the government of Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz.

The European Union should deal with Dodik much more seriously after this scandal. Although he comes from small Bosnia and Herzegovina, his connection with the Russian president can indeed draw many European countries into trouble, not because Dodik only cooperates with Russia, which is a large and serious country, but because Dodik does not shy away from creating chaos in achieving Russian plans in Europe and his personal political ambitions. Bosnia and Herzegovina still does not have the strength to deal with him, due to Dodik's strong influence on the judiciary in BiH, so EU sanctions, following the example of those already imposed on Dodik by the US, would help not only to free Bosnia and Herzegovina from Dodik's populist burden, but also to protect Europe from the further expansion of Dodik's policy.

At the meeting in Ibiza with the wealthy Russian woman, besides Strache, Johann Gudenus, a prominent member of the party and at the time deputy mayor of Vienna, was also present. Gudenus is married to Tatjana Tajčić from Banja Luka, and Milorad Dodik also attended the wedding in May 2017 in Banja Luka. According to media reports, Tajčić also attended the meeting in Ibiza, as seen in the footage. Did Dodik mediate the meeting between Strache and the Russian businessmen who were supposed to illegally support the Austrian right-winger, and to what extent? There is a high probability that Dodik was a kind of intermediary for that meeting. Dodik, namely, has met with Russian President Putin several times in recent years, even more times, or at least as many times as Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić has met with President Putin.

In addition to Austrian right-wingers, Dodik also maintains contacts with Hungarian Prime Minister, eurosceptic Viktor Orbán, in whose office was displayed the flag of Republika Srpska separated from Bosnia and Herzegovina, which is also contrary to EU policy towards Bosnia and Herzegovina. Recently, Dodik also formalized cooperation with Italy's Northern League. It was founded in 1991 by Umberto Bossi, and at that time the party advocated for the secession of northern Italy and accused Rome of robbing the wealthy north. Matteo Salvini took over the party in 2013, then befriended far-right parties, the French National Front and the Dutch anti-Islam Freedom Party. He promised to pull Italy out of the eurozone when he came to power, and called the European Union a bureaucratic dictatorship.

Why are European populists important to Dodik? They advocate for the breakup of the EU and support secessionism, including Dodik's in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which could lead to new bloodshed in the country and beyond. "If Bosnia and Herzegovina separated from the then Yugoslavia, then the aspirations of RS can be more easily understood," Strache supported Dodik in their earlier meetings. If Strache was one step away from receiving Russian money in a non-transparent way, it is entirely reasonable to suspect that other European populists could follow the same path, with Dodik mediating between them and Putin. Both Putin and Dodik benefit from a destabilized European Union. The former would thus more easily achieve his presence in the EU, while Dodik would face less pressure from Europe due to his populist stances in BiH, which are nothing more than suppressing suspicion of his involvement in numerous affairs to the detriment of his own country and its citizens.

Bosnian writer Abdulah Sidran warned on Tuesday at a lunch with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris that the roots of what is now seen as a drastic right-wing shift of the entire Europe were sown in '92 when Europe, using the example of Bosnia and Herzegovina, departed from its elementary rules and principles. The inequality that was then shown in double, multiple standards towards the space and peoples of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sidran said, is now coming due. Therefore, Europe must not repeat the same mistake and must sanction populists like Dodik, if it did not already do so with Slobodan Milošević in the nineties.