The BBC might have to look into its contracting practices. Aurora Weiss, a freelancer who was contracted by the BBC “to work on a research project” last month, also happens to be an adviser to Milorad Dodik, the President of Republika Srpska. Srpska is one of the two current entities of Bosnia and Herzegovina, established by Serbs during the Bosnian War…

Dodik was sanctioned by the UK in 2022 for “using his positions of authority to push for de facto secession of Republika Srpska, and for using hate speech to stir ethnic tensions“, as well as under sanctions from the US. The hard-line Bosnian Serb leader is a loyal supporter of Vladimir Putin – the Russian President firmly encouraging the “relations that Republika Srpska is building and expanding with the Russian state”. Makes Gary Lineker look positively neutral…

This isn’t the first time BBC has put suspect contractors on the payroll, though it surely takes the biscuit…