Nationalist Bosnian Serb president Milorad Dodik frequently threatens to seek secession rather than transfer powers to Bosnia’s central authorities. “They took away our army, they won’t do it with our police,” local media quoted Mr Dodik as saying last month. Analysts fear that Mr Dodik, who denies corruption allegations, could seek to destabilise Bosnia if he and his party faced defeat in elections this October. He is a regular visitor to Moscow, and recent unconfirmed reports have said that Russian trainers may work with Bosnian Serb police at a new training centre in Republika Srpska. Macedonian prime minister Zoran Zaev said this week that the leading compromise options were Republic of North Macedonia, Republic of Upper Macedonia, Republic of Vardar Macedonia and Republic of Macedonia (Skopje).

Source: The Irish Times February 28, 2018 18:00 UTC