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Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Foreign Minister Elmedin Konakovic said Tuesday that officials close to former Republika Srpska President Milorad Dodik, who is under a political ban, agreed with a former Israeli intelligence officer on lobbying activities aimed at the independence of Republika Srpska, Bosnia’s Serb-majority entity, the cancellation of elections in the entity and the closure of the Office of the High Representative.
Speaking to reporters, Konakovic said officials close to Dodik signed a contract in September 2025 with a Canadian lobbying firm, Dickens & Madson, and shared copies of the documents with journalists.
Konakovic said the firm is headed by Ari Ben-Menashe, an Iran-born former Israeli intelligence officer, and that the contract was valued at $4 million.
“The lobbying activities and objectives are clearly written in the contract,” Konakovic said. “Three million dollars have been paid and 1 million dollars remains to be paid. Dodik’s signature is not on the contract; the signatures belong to his close associates. Until now, Dodik conveyed his objectives through political rhetoric. This time, everything is written, signed, registered and published in the United States.”
According to Konakovic, the contract identifies lobbying before U.S. President Donald Trump as a central objective, with the aim of securing Republika Srpska’s secession from Bosnia and Herzegovina and the declaration of its independence.
He said the document also includes efforts to prevent elections in Republika Srpska, to close the Office of the High Representative and to terminate the mandate of High Representative Christian Schmidt. Konakovic said the contract was signed on behalf of Republika Srpska by Mladen Filipovic.
Konakovic added that the documents reference attempts to arrange a meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and called on Bosnia and Herzegovina’s state institutions to take action regarding the information.
Dodik visited Israel on Jan. 29 and the United States on Feb. 7, saying during both trips that he raised the issue of Republika Srpska’s independence.
Dodik has frequently made headlines in Bosnia and Herzegovina for separatist rhetoric, repeatedly stating that he does not recognize the Office of the High Representative or High Representative Christian Schmidt, whose role was established under the 1995 Dayton Peace Agreement that ended the 1992–1995 war.
In June 2023, the Republika Srpska National Assembly, led by Dodik, decided that Schmidt’s decisions would not be published in the entity’s Official Gazette.
Schmidt, who has the authority to impose laws when deemed necessary, annulled those decisions.
After Dodik continued to advocate separatism, including statements that Republika Srpska would secede from Bosnia and Herzegovina, prosecutors indicted him on charges of failing to comply with decisions of the Office of the High Representative.
In the trial that began in December 2023, Dodik was sentenced to one year in prison and banned from politics for six years. The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina later converted the prison sentence into a fine.
Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Central Election Commission unanimously removed Dodik from his post as president of Republika Srpska, the country’s Serb-majority entity, following the six-year political ban.
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