U.S. Denies Visa For Bosnian Serb Leader To Attend Trump Inaugural

The president of Republika Srpska Milorad Dodik says the United States embassy in Bosnia-Herzegovina has rejected his request for a diplomatic visa.

The visa would enable him to travel to the United States for the January inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump, to which he has been invited.

Dodik told RTRS, the public broadcaster of the Serb republic, on December 27 that the embassy's rationale for such a move was that he was not going there as a representative of Bosnia-Herzegovina.

The Serb leader said that the invitation to attend the inauguration came from people in Trump's campaign.

Dodik recounted in detail a telephone conversation he had last week with U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Hoyt Yee, who asked him to give up the policy of his pro-Russia separatist party, "and to respond to the Prosecution of Bosnia-Herzegovina."

Dodik described Yee's comments as "a harangue directed by U.S. Ambassador to Bosnia-Herzegovina Maureen Cormack," who he said was present during the phone conversation.

RTRS said in its report that Yee "blamed Dodik for the deadlock of Bosnia-Herzegovina on its path towards the EU."