Christian Schmidt, the top international official in Bosnia and Herzegovina, resigned this week, following an aggressive U.S. lobbying campaign by Republika Srpska. The campaign, which targeted Schmidt's removal, paid at least $8.9 million to eleven Washington firms between 2025 and 2026. Schmidt, a German diplomat, cited only "personal decision" to the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday.
Republika Srpska, the Serb-dominated region of Bosnia, sought to improve its image and build support for secession. Milorad Dodik, who led Republika Srpska until last year, consistently challenged Schmidt's authority, calling him a "tourist." Dodik was removed from the presidency for pushing separatist legislation, which Schmidt, as High Representative, annulled using his office's powers. Dodik still heads the ruling party and remains the region's most influential politician.
A March 2025 contract with Montreal-based Dickens and Madson Canada Inc., filed under the U.S. Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), explicitly listed objectives including the removal of U.S. sanctions on Dodik and Schmidt's ouster. Dodik's sanctions were lifted in October 2024 by the Trump administration. The contract stated, "We shall also secure the support of the United States government to remove Christian Schmidt as High Representative in Bosnia Herzegovina and condemn the biased decisions of this representative."
The White House did not comment on Schmidt's departure, and the Office of the High Representative offered no further details beyond "personal decision." Schmidt's exit removes a significant obstacle for Dodik's stated goal of Bosnian partition. The Dickens and Madson contract confirms, "The independence of the Republic of Srpska from Bosnia Herzegovina is our ultimate goal." Neither Dodik nor the Republika Srpska government responded to requests for comment.
In 2022, the Biden administration imposed a second round of sanctions on Dodik, following earlier measures under Barack Obama. The U.S. government expressed concern that Dodik's actions threatened the Dayton Accords. These accords, brokered by the U.S. in 1995, ended a four-year war that killed an estimated 100,000 people and displaced 2.2 million. The agreement divided Bosnia into two semi-autonomous regions: Republika Srpska and a Bosniak-Croat federation.
Brian E. Nelson, U.S. Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, stated at the time that Dodik's "destabilizing corrupt activities and attempts to dismantle the Dayton Peace Accords, motivated by his own self-interest, threaten the stability of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the entire region."
Political currents shifted, and Dodik found allies in the Trump administration. Kurt Bassouner, co-founder of the Berlin-based Democratization Policy Council, noted that Dodik and his supporters viewed Trump's potential return to the presidency in 2025 as "a real opportunity." They anticipated a reduction in resistance to their agendas.
Under Dodik's leadership, Republika Srpska invested millions in lobbying contracts. FARA documents list Trump's former national security adviser Michael T. Flynn and former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich, whom Trump pardoned, among the recipients. Jonathan Moore, a former U.S. ambassador who headed the OSCE mission in Bosnia from 2014 to 2017, also signed a contract. Moore, previously known for opposing corruption and defending the Dayton Accords, will now lobby for a government seeking Bosnia's dissolution.
The February FARA filing shows Republika Srpska will pay Moore $30,000 monthly to facilitate messaging for its political leaders. Moore told OCCRP that any work performed would be "consistent with the Dayton Peace Accords." Ari Ben-Menashe, owner of Dickens and Madson, offered a different perspective. He stated the Dayton agreement "did not take into account various issues concerning the Serbs in Republika Srpska." Ben-Menashe argued that Schmidt's actions, from an office created to oversee the accords, risked "reigniting the conflict in the region." He claimed independence for Republika Srpska would "bring positive results for both sides."
Dickens and Madson has a history of representing controversial clients, including Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe and Myanmar's military junta. Ben-Menashe also secured a deal with Lieutenant General Mohamed Hamdan Dagaio, who signed on behalf of the military council that seized power in Sudan in 2019. Dagaio was part of the Janjaweed militia, accused of genocide in Darfur. Ben-Menashe described his company as representing "voiceless" clients with "bad reputations," adding that sometimes "bad reputation doesn't mean they're bad people."
While foreign lobbying is legal and regulated in the U.S., transparency watchdogs express concern that it allows autocratic figures to rehabilitate their images. Ivana Korajlić, executive director of Transparency International in Bosnia and Herzegovina, questioned the use of taxpayer money for expensive foreign lobbyists in a country grappling with high unemployment and poverty. S&P Global, a financial analytics firm, reports that Republika Srpska relies on continuous debt refinancing to remain solvent, with its economic outlook remaining "negative."
Korajlić stated, "This is not lobbying for the interests of Republika Srpska at all, but rather for the interests of individuals within the Republika Srpska government, and the fulfillment of their personal ambitions." Recent high-profile visits to Republika Srpska suggest an alignment between Dodik's interests and the Trump administration. In April, Donald Trump Jr. spoke at a business conference in Banja Luka, Republika Srpska's capital. This followed a visit to Banja Luka last year by former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, a former personal lawyer for Trump. Giuliani attended a political rally for Dodik, wearing a red cap that read "Make Srpska Great Again."