(ANSA) - SARAJEVO, 12 NOV - Republika Srpska (RS), the Serb entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), has allocated 6 million euros in subsidies to purchase Belarusian-made tractors. This effectively circumvents international sanctions imposed on the authoritarian, Moscow-allied regime of Alexander Lukashenko for repressing political opponents and supporting Russia's aggression against Ukraine. The tractors are manufactured by the state-owned company Minsk Tractor Works, which is also subject to sanctions imposed by Ukraine and several Western countries because of its ties to the Belarusian state sector and Lukashenko's regime. The tractor purchase program was part of the arrangement between Lukashenko and Milorad Dodik (the powerful former President of Republika Srpska). Dodik has since been removed from office, though he remains the head of the SNSD party, which is in power in Banja Luka. He's long been trying to get Republika Srpska to walk away from the institutions of Bosnia in Sarajevo. The Banja Luka government selected a single domestic company to distribute approximately 250 Belarusian tractors on the Bosnian market, while imports were handled through a company based in neighboring Serbia. According to available information, the founder of the Serbian company is Belarus's honorary consul in Novi Sad, Serbia, raising further questions about the economic and political ties behind the agreement's implementation. Bosnia and Herzegovina largely aligns itself with the European Union's common foreign and security policy but has not adopted all restrictive measures against Belarus. Its implementation at the national level has been opposed in Sarajevo by ministers from Republika Srpska who belong to Dodik's party and remain under his control. In its 2026 report on Bosnia and Herzegovina, the European Commission warned that implementing sanctions against Russia and Belarus continues to face significant obstacles in ministries and institutions controlled by the SNSD and Dodik. (ANSA).