A Bosnian court announced on Thursday that Interpol declined to issue an international arrest warrant for Milorad Dodik, the pro-Russia Bosnian Serb leader who is sought nationally for allegedly violating the country's constitution.
"At this moment, the court can only confirm the information that the international arrest warrant has not entered into force," the state court of Bosnia-Herzegovina said in a statement to Agence France-Presse (AFP).
It added that information about the matter was confidential and the court could not communicate details about Interpol's decision.
Dodik, late Wednesday, had told RTRS public television in the Serb-run entity in Bosnia-Herzegovina called Republika Srpska (Serb Republic) he rules that Interpol had declined to issue the international request to its member countries, called a "red notice."
He claimed Interpol refused because it deemed the Bosnian warrant to be politically motivated.
Dodik made the comment upon returning from Moscow, to where he had gone after a court in Bosnia's capital of Sarajevo last week ordered his arrest over accusations he was making secessionist moves.
In the Russian capital, he was greeted by President Vladimir Putin.
Dodik said that Serbia had intervened with Interpol to prevent a "red notice" being issued for him, and for the speaker of the Bosnian Serb parliament, Nenad Stevandic, also wanted by Bosnian justice.
The two men, along with the Serb statelet's prime minister, Radovan Viskovic, are wanted by Bosnian prosecutors over accusations they are seeking to secede and are flouting Bosnia's constitution.
Germany and Austria said on Thursday they will impose a travel ban on Dodik, Stevandic and Viskovic.
Since the end of the war in the early 1990s that left 100,000 people killed and displaced millions, Bosnia remains split into two highly-autonomous halves – the Serbs' Republika Srpska (RS) and a Muslim-Croat Federation.
Each has its own government and parliament, with only weak central institutions binding the country of 3.5 million people together.
National authorities did not arrest the three Bosnian Serb officials because such an operation was deemed too risky. Dodik's presidential palace has been guarded by armed local police.
Dodik, 66, has repeatedly refused to follow rulings from the international high representative who oversees the peace deal in the Balkan country.
A national court in February convicted him and sentenced him to one year in prison and a six-year ban on holding public office. Dodik rejects the ruling.
