Bosnia & Herzegovina’s Minister of Foreign Trade Staša Košarac has sent a Nazi-era military helmet and a strongly worded letter to the country’s international overseer, Christian Schmidt, prompting widespread criticism and concern over rising political tensions.

The act is a new escalation in the ongoing campaign by the nationalist Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD) party to delegitimise Schmidt, whose authority is recognised internationally but rejected by the leadership of the Bosnian Serb entity Republika Srpska. Schmidt, appointed by the Peace Implementation Council, holds sweeping powers under the Dayton peace agreement to impose laws and remove officials if deemed necessary to maintain stability.

Košarac, a senior member of the SNSD, addressed the letter to Schmidt under the title “Letter to the Occupier”, as detailed on his Instagram page, where he posted a copy of the letter. The message accused the high representative, a German politician, of following Nazi ideology and included personal insults directed at him and his family.

Local media said the tone of the communication broke with diplomatic norms, noting that Košarac did not use formal address customary in official correspondence. The letter also referenced Second World War casualties among Serbs, echoing language increasingly used in political disputes across Bosnia’s fragmented institutions.

In the letter, Košarac wrote that Schmidt “through … unconstitutional and non-Dayton manipulations, usurped domestic institutions, devastated democracy, and orchestrated the judicial and political persecution of the legally and legitimately elected President of the Republika Srpska, Milorad Dodik … in an effort to weaken the Republika Srpska and nullify the free will of the Serbian people in Bosnia and Herzegovina.” 

He described Schmidt as “the embodiment of political evil and ill will towards my homeland” and said he “reminded him that the helmet is a legacy of his Nazi ancestors, who killed my people in the darkest period of human civilisation.”

The incident comes shortly before the snap presidential election in Republika Srpska, after Dodik was removed from the presidency of the entity.