Bosnia’s Mainly Serb Entity Ramps Up Lobbying Outlay under Trump

Donald Trump’s second term has coincided with a significant increase in lobbying efforts by Bosnia’s Republika Srpska entity, resulting, it seems, in the lifting of US sanctions on Milorad Dodik and his family and allies. Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Republika Srpska entity has spent almost as much on lobbying in the United States since Donald Trump’s return to the White House in January 2025 as during the previous three years combined, BIRN and the business-focussed Bosnian investigative media outlet Capital can reveal. Trump’s second term as US president has been a boon for Bosnian Serb strongman Milorad Dodik. In October last year, Washington lifted sanctions imposed on Dodik three days before Trump’s first inauguration in January 2017 and later expanded to 47 individuals and companies connected to him. The US had deemed Dodik, who has frequently threatened secession for the predominantly Serb-populated Republika Srpska, a threat to the territorial integrity of Bosnia and to the three decades old peace deal that the US brokered to end the 1992-95 Bosnian war. In an abrupt turnaround, Dodik, a former Republika Srpska president and leader of the ruling SNSD party, is now viewed by the Trump administration as sharing its conservative values, and a man willing to open up Republika Srpska to US investment. The change in treatment has coincided with a significant uptick in lobbying by Banja Luka: since the start of Trump’s second term in January 2025, the entity has spent some 2.38 million euros on lobbying in the US, adding four new lobbying firms to its previous two and engaging individuals with close ties to the US president. That compares with 2.39 million euros spent in 2022-2024, after Washington tightened sanctions on Dodik and expanded the list of blacklisted individuals and firms, according to an analysis of documents under the US Department of Justice’s Foreign Agents Registration Act, FARA. Tanja Topic, a political analyst in Banja Luka, said the spending had benefitted the sanctioned individuals, not the entity or its people. “It brought significant benefits to all officials, companies and family members [of Dodik] who has been ‘blacklisted’ in the US for years,” Topic told BIRN/Capital. “Politically and financially, they got a new lease of life precisely thanks to the lobbying activities.” Lobbying effort follows sanctions Member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina Zeljka Cvijanovic (L) and former President of Republika Srpska Milorad Dodik (R) attend a military parade in Belgrade, Serbia, 20 September 2025. Photo: EPA/ANDREJ CUKIC.In 2021, under the Democrat administration of President Joe Biden, lobbyists hired by the Republika Srpska authorities were focussed mainly on forwarding messages from Banja Luka to US senators, including Marco Rubio, now US Secretary of State. In early 2022, however, the focus shifted to direct conversations with, for example, Robin Brooks, the then director of the Department of Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs at the US State Department and Republican congressman Robert Aderholt. “Our goal is a network of relevant interlocutors who share key principles: respect for Dayton, appreciation of reality, and readiness for rational cooperation,” said Ana Trisic Babic, director of the Office for International Cooperation of the Republika Srpska. Trump’s return to office in January 2025 brought a significant hike in spending by the Republika Srpska in the US. Since then, the entity has hired four new lobbying firms: Zell & Associates International Advocates, Stokes Strategies, GS2Law and Continental Strategy. Zell & Associates International Advocates was paid around a million euros, though almost half of that went to an Israeli subcontractor called Gilad Government Relations and Lobbying. One of the most influential lobbying firms in Israel, Gilad is co-owned by Ariel Sender, who headed Trump’s campaign among US citizens in Israel during the 2016 and 2020 elections; in 2012, the Israeli parliament, or Knesset, temporarily revoked the entry passes for Gilad staff amid an ethics scandal. Zell & Associates did not respond to a request for comment. Republika Srpska also paid around half a million euros to Stokes Strategies, whose submissions to FARA show it focussed on building relations with conservative organisations and meetings in Congress. Stokes paid Christine Czerjenewski of Firefly Communications some 50,000 euros for research work. Czerjenewski has connections in US conservative circles and the Republican Party and is a former fellow of the conservative public policy group The Heritage Foundation, described by The New York Times this week as a “bastion of American conservatism”. Neither Stokes Strategies nor Firefly Communications responded to requests for comment. A month before the US lifted sanctions on Dodik & Co, Republika Srpska authorities hired GS2Law to the tune of 130,000 euros. According to their FARA report, GS2Law was tasked with legal research and preparation of a lawsuit “in connection with the previous listing of certain citizens and entities of Republika Srpska on the OFAC [sanctions] list”. GS2Law did not respond to a request for comment. Continental Strategy was hired earlier this year, on a contract worth around 660,000 euros. The firm is led by former Trump adviser Carlos Trujillo. ‘Convincing arguments’ Under Trump, the US revoked sanctions against Dodik and linked companies and individuals. Photo: EPA/AARON SCHWARTZ.Trsic Babic framed the sanctions as punitive measures against Republika Srpska as an entity. Lobbying alone did not get them lifted, she said, while arguing that some small European states such as Estonia, Latvia or Slovenia spend far more. “It brings access, but the outcome depends on the strength of the case you make,” she told BIRN. “There is no successful lobbying without convincing arguments.” “If we add to that the fact that the results are visible, from the de-escalation of the narrative to the formal lifting of sanctions, then it is clear that quality argumentation has increased the effect of every dollar invested. In other words: the goal was not to ‘spend’, but to prove. And we proved it.” Washington consultant Todd Prince, an expert on FARA reports, said the US firms hired by Banja Luka faced a difficult task. Dodik and his allies were considered “politically toxic” in the US, he said. “Lifting U.S. sanctions on an entity or person has historically been very difficult so the fact that the Trump administration agreed to do so would seem to indicate that the lobbying effort was successful,” Prince told BIRN/Capital. “Considering all the other issues on the Trump administration’s plate since 2025 – tariffs, DOGE, China trade talks, Iran, Ukraine war, etc – it is notable that they found time to address the sanctions removal issue.” Bosnian lobbying Bosnia as a state has spent far less on lobbying. According to reports filed with FARA, the Bosnian American Alliance, BAA, was registered on April 28, 2025, as an agent of the Bosnian foreign ministry. According to its website, the BAA is a US-based NGO dedicated to building relations between the US and Bosnia. In March last year, it signed a contract with the Bosnian foreign ministry, which stated that the BAA would provide its services for free. Media reports have previously highlighted issues in BAA funding, after contributions from a number of private firms were returned due to suspicions of money laundering. Prosecutors in Bosnia reportedly launched a probe and Foreign Minister Elmedin Konakovic said he had been questioned as a witness in the case. It is not clear what the outcome was. Neither the public prosecution nor the foreign ministry responded to requests for comment. In submissions to FARA, BAA said it had never received any payments or financial compensation from the Bosnian foreign ministry and that its activities were carried out on a voluntary basis. These activities included meetings with US government officials, including at the State Department, the National Security Council, and members of Congress to discuss cooperation and potential trade missions in the fields of critical minerals and liquefied natural gas. BAA, which did not respond to requests for comment, also hired Continental Strategy for a fee of 122,000 euros for US government relations services. Continental Strategy also did not respond to BIRN/Capital questions.