(fyiteam)
While the international community isolated Vladimir Putin after the invasion of Ukraine, a Bosnian Serb named Sasa Bozic, living in Banja Luka, Bosnia, took a different stance by opening a café named Putin Café, making his views clear.
Visitors can see a statue of the Russian president, approximately 30 cm taller than the real one, displayed in the café.
This summer, Bozic plans to launch his next project: a motel-restaurant called “Trump and Putin’s Place.”
(fyiteam)
Banja Luka is the capital of Republika Srpska, one of the two administrative regions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, known for its strong pro-Russian sentiments. The second region is the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
In 2023, Republika Srpska awarded Vladimir Putin its highest honor for his “patriotic concern and love for Republika Srpska.”
Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of around 3.46 million, has three main ethnic groups:
The largest administrative region is the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, where the majority are Bosniaks and Croats, while Republika Srpska is predominantly inhabited by Serbs.
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The Bosnian Serbs and Bosnian Muslims fought each other from 1992 to 1995, as did the Bosnian Serbs and Bosnian Croats, as the latter voted for the country’s independence from Yugoslavia, while the Bosnian Serbs wanted it to remain part of Yugoslavia.
During this period, the Bosnian Serbs attacked Sarajevo, while the European Union and the United States recognized the independence of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
In total, 100,000 people died, 70% of them Bosnian Muslims, and 2 million people were displaced.
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On July 11, 1995, Bosnian Serbs, led by Ratko Mladić, killed 8,000 Bosniak men and boys in Srebrenica and carried out widespread rapes of women and girls.
Srebrenica had been declared a safe zone by the UN, and the massacre in the Bosnian region was recognized as genocide in 2005.
This was followed by NATO bombings of Bosnian Serb targets, including in Sarajevo, until November, resulting in dozens of deaths.
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The war ended when the Dayton Agreement was signed on December 14 of the same year, with the mediation of the United States, between the presidents of the three countries: Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Croatia.
At that time, the president of Serbia was Slobodan Milošević, the president of Bosnia and Herzegovina was Alija Izetbegović, and the president of Croatia was Franjo Tuđman.
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The Bosnian Serbs hold the U.S. and, in general, the West responsible for the NATO bombings of targets in the Serbian Republic of Bosnia during the 1995 war.
In contrast, Russia is viewed as a “protector,” partly due to shared religious ties (Eastern Orthodox Christians).
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Serb-Bosnians view Trump’s America as “different,” a sentiment acknowledged by both former and current leaders of the Serbian Republic, who also praise him for verbally attacking Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office.
Decades of regional perceptions of the U.S. have shifted because of Trump, and they now hope that an American president will take an interest in their concerns.
A key factor in this shift is the apparent (so far) good relationship between the U.S. president and Putin.
(fyiteam)
The U.S., under Joe Biden, imposed sanctions on the Serbian Republic after its president, Milorad Dodik, passed a law banning the national police and judiciary of Bosnia in the region, undermining the Dayton Agreement, which states these institutions should be shared across Bosnia, including both entities (Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina – Serbian Republic).
The goal of the Serb-Bosnians is to have U.S. sanctions lifted, while their vision, both within and outside the Serbian territory, is a Greater Serbia, including the annexation of parts of Kosovo, whose independence is recognized by the U.S., and the secession of the Serbian Republic from Bosnia.
