Original article (in Croatian) was published on 11/4/2024; Author: Ivica Kristović
The Ministry of the Interior told Faktograf that the claims circulated by Nikola Kajkić, an independent candidate on the joint list of Most and the Croatian Sovereignists, were false.
On April 8, Professor Goran Jurisic, co-founder and head of the Croatian Center for Research on the Crime of Communism, published a Facebook post (archived here) claiming that Igor Dodik, the son of Republika Srpska President Milorad Dodik, holds Croatian citizenship. He cited Nikola Kajkic, an independent candidate from the Most party and the Croatian Sovereignists in the 5th constituency, as his source.
Jurisic’s post asserted, “Proof of my claim that Plenkovic and Milanovic were never in a fight but are throwing smokescreens at the public with mutual insults: Prime Minister Plenkovic granted Milanovic’s ally, the son of the Great Serbian agent Milorad Dodik, Igor Dodik, Croatian citizenship, even though the Dodik ‘family’ is on the black list of the State Department due to the destruction of the Dayton Agreement. (source of information: Nikola Kajkic).”
What Did Kajkić Discuss on Velebit Podcast?
On April 8, during the YouTube podcast Velebit, Nikola Kajkić revealed that Igor Dodik, the son of Milorad Dodik, had received Croatian citizenship. “About 15 days ago, Igor Dodik was granted citizenship. Son of Milorad Dodik. It happened 13 or 14 days ago,” Kajkić stated on the show.
When asked how Igor Dodik obtained Croatian citizenship, Kajkić explained, “Citizenship can be acquired by birth or descent. Typically, one must be born in Croatia, reside in the country for a certain number of years, and meet other criteria such as being a Croatian Catholic.” He added that “Milorad Dodik is of Croatian descent, though he does not acknowledge it,” and further elaborated that Dodik “identifies as Orthodox and Serbian,” despite the Dodik family converting to Orthodoxy in the 17th century.
“What interest do Plenković, Božinović, and Milina have? The Ministry of the Interior handles citizenship, so why grant it to Igor Dodik? You know that Dodik, along with his children Milorad and Igor, has been blacklisted by the State Department for violating and endangering the Dayton Agreement,” Kajkić said, questioning the benefits to Croatia of granting citizenship to Igor Dodik.
Interior Ministry: Igor Dodik Did Not Apply for Citizenship
When Faktograf noticed this information circulating on social networks on April 9, we sent a request to the Ministry of the Interior to confirm or deny whether Igor Dodik had received Croatian citizenship. Meanwhile, the rumor was picked up by some media in both Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia (archived here, here and here) and rapidly spread across social networks.
On the morning of April 11, we received a response from the Ministry of the Interior stating that Igor Dodik did not receive Croatian citizenship. “Upon reviewing the records for applications for Croatian citizenship by naturalization, we found no application from a person named Igor Dodik (son of Milorad). Therefore, the reports by some media that he was granted Croatian citizenship are incorrect,” replied the Ministry of the Interior.
After Kajkić’s claims circulated in the media across Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, Igor Dodik responded on the social network X.
“I see that I have become a Croatian citizen, they just haven’t given me a passport yet, and the institutions haven’t informed me that I’ve asked for one either. Another one in a series of big lies that are easily verifiable. Gentlemen who published and passed on the news, if you cared about your credibility, you would have verified the facts first”, said Dodik in a post that was shared by some media outlets in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
USA Imposed Sanctions on Dodik and Family Members
While reports of Igor Dodik receiving Croatian citizenship are unfounded, it is true that the USA has imposed sanctions on Milorad Dodik for undermining the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, specifically the Dayton Accords. According to a US Treasury Department press release, sanctions were initially placed on Milorad Dodik in July 2017 for these actions. Last year, these sanctions were extended to include four additional officials from Bosnian entity of Republika Srpska. In October of the same year, the Treasury Department also extended the sanctions to individuals associated with Milorad Dodik, including his children Igor and Gorica Dodik, as well as four companies.
“Since 2021, Dodik has increased the involvement of his son, Igor Dodik (Igor), and daughter, Gorica Dodik (Gorica), in political and business activities within the RS, causing concern that the RS was becoming more like a Dodik family business rather than a political entity of BiH”, states the press release.
It also notes that in the recent elections in RS, Dodik’s SNSD party, which includes both Milorad and Igor Dodik, colluded to bribe political officials, members of election committees, and election observers in a corrupt attempt to secure election victories.
“Igor engaged in bribery of opposition politicians, who were offered political appointments in exchange for critical information and election observer positions at polling locations,” states the release.
Milorad Dodik was also added to the list of sanctioned individuals in the United Kingdom in 2022, although his son Igor was not included. Additionally, neither Milorad Dodik nor any of his family members are currently sanctioned by the European Union. However, in July 2023, key figures from the European Parliament expressed a different stance. David McAllister, a German Member of Parliament from the European People’s Party and President of the Committee on Foreign Affairs; Paulo Rangel, the Portuguese rapporteur for Bosnia and Herzegovina from the same group; and Romeo Franz, President of the Parliamentary Delegation for Relations with Bosnia and Herzegovina from the Greens, jointly called for the imposition of sanctions against Dodik.
“The European Parliament has repeatedly called on the Council to move beyond verbal statements and take specific, targeted action against those who continue to deliberately and systematically undermine Bosnia and Herzegovina’s constitutional and territorial order in words and deeds. It is high time for the EU and its Member States to finally impose targeted sanctions on Milorad Dodik – who is already under US and UK sanctions – and his allies, if necessary on a bilateral level,” the joint statement said.
In conclusion, the Ministry of the Interior has confirmed that the reports of Igor Dodik receiving Croatian citizenship are incorrect. According to a review of the records, Milorad Dodik’s son did not apply for citizenship, thereby making it impossible for him to have received it.