The actions of the ruling coalition in Bosnia & Herzegovina’s Republika Srpska aim to destabilise the country, High Representative Christian Schmidt said in a statement on February 28 following a meeting of the Peace Implementation Council Steering Board of Ambassadors.

The parliament of Republika Srpska adopted a set of laws on February 27, banning the work of state-level judicial institutions on its territory and establishing local ones, in a move seen as the entity's legal secession from Bosnia.

The laws were adopted after Bosnia’s state-level court sentenced Republika Srpska’s President Milorad Dodik to one year in prison and banned him from taking public posts for six years.

“Reiterating recent statements by international partners in support of the Dayton Peace Agreement and Bosnia and Herzegovina’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and firmly opposing any actions that would undermine BiH’s security and stability, members condemned the adoption by the National Assembly of Republika Srpska of the conclusions and decision on 26 February and the legislation on 27 February,” Schmidt said in the statement.

“These actions by the ruling coalition in Republika Srpska seek to destabilise the institutions exercising constitutional responsibilities of the State, in accordance with the laws of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and whose establishment has been confirmed constitutional by the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina,” he added.

Schmidt also warned that Bosnia’s two autonomous entities – the Muslim-Croat Federation and Republika Srpska – are obliged to comply with the constitution and the state-level laws.

“Members urge immediate cessation of all activities that undermine the Dayton Peace Agreement and the constitutional and legal order of Bosnia and Herzegovina. These actions contradict the commitments Bosnia and Herzegovina has undertaken on the EU path,” Schmidt said.

He also added that Bosnian state-level institutions must use all legal means to protect the country’s constitutional order.

The US embassy to Bosnia also strongly condemned Republika Srpska’s latest acts, calling them "unconstitutional legislation”.

“We condemn the unconstitutional and anti-Dayton legislation the Republika Srpska National Assembly passed last night. We expect local leaders to immediately stop engaging in activities that undermine the Dayton Peace Agreement and BiH’s constitutional and legal order,” the embassy wrote on X.

By contrast, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said he was very concerned about the situation in Republika Srpska as it reminded him of "the situation before the outbreak of the First World War", N1 reported on March 1.

He accused the West and the European Union of "violating all the agreements they are supposed to guarantee".

Vucic claimed every president of Republika Srpska, since its establishment, has been punished by the international community with sanctions, imprisonment or expulsion.

“[I]t is not possible that each of them wanted to destroy Bosnia and Herzegovina or the Dayton Agreement," Vucic said.

"You have seen how they reacted to Dodik's calls for talks, Western support for the further collapse of Republika Srpska … Wash yourself with cold water you in Europe, we know about your support for the principles of territorial integrity, we have felt it on our skin … Wash yourself nicely with water and look at the numbers: 50% of global military effectiveness is from the US, 30,000 US troops are in Germany," Vucic said.

Dodik called on the Federation’s authorities to hold talks to arrange a “return to the original Dayton” but that was rejected by the Federation’s Prime Minister Nermin Niksic.

"I must point out that I am not ready to participate in any negotiations or agree on any form of further political cooperation with the institutions of Republika Srpska, until all forms of unconstitutional, anti-Dayton and anti-state activities are suspended and annulled,” Niksic wrote in a letter to Dodik and Republika Srpska’s Prime Minister Radovan Viskovic.

“This implies the revocation and annulment of all unconstitutional acts proposed by the Government, and adopted or to be adopted by the National Assembly of Republika Srpska or other bodies and bodies of this entity that challenge the competencies and authority of state bodies and institutions, as well as institutions defined by the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia & Herzegovina,” Niksic added in the letter, published on Facebook.

Meanwhile, the Bosniak Caucus in Republika Srpska’s parliament will initiate a procedure to temporarily ban the implementation of new laws, claiming its vital interest would be harmed by them. As the issue would then be resolved by Republika Srpska’s constitutional court, the ban will not last long.