A Trump-linked company is close to securing a contract for a gas pipeline in Bosnia and Herzegovina, prompting allegations that the US administration used its influence to benefit political allies while easing sanctions on the country’s separatist Serb leader.
AAFS Infrastructure & Energy, a US firm headed by former Donald Trump personal attorney Jesse Binnall and Joseph Flynn, the brother of Trump ally Michael Flynn, is involved in the proposed Southern Interconnection Gas Pipeline.
The project, valued at about 1.7 billion dollars (£1.3 billion), would connect Bosnia and Herzegovina to Croatia’s gas network and allow the country to import liquefied natural gas. It is intended to reduce Bosnia’s reliance on Russian gas imports.
Alleged link between sanctions relief and pipeline deal
Milorad Dodik, the Bosnian Serb nationalist leader who had opposed the pipeline, said he would no longer obstruct the proposal after AAFS’s involvement was announced last April. His party holds veto power in Bosnia’s parliament.
Six months earlier, the Trump administration had lifted sanctions imposed on Dodik. The measures, introduced by the Obama administration in 2017 and expanded under Joe Biden in 2022, included asset freezes and visa bans.
A report by House Democrats alleges that the decision to remove the sanctions and Dodik’s shift on the pipeline were directly connected. It accused the administration of using diplomatic influence and links to Michael Flynn to help secure the concession for AAFS.
AAFS has described itself as focusing on energy security, project structuring, capital alignment and regional infrastructure development. However, the company does not appear to have demonstrated experience in comparable energy projects.
The company did not respond to a request for comment. Emails seeking responses from Michael Flynn and Rod Blagojevich, whose lobbying firm worked for Republika Srpska, also went unanswered.
Foreign agent registration filings show that Michael Flynn last worked as a paid lobbyist for Republika Srpska in October 2025, the same month that sanctions against Dodik were lifted. He was paid 100,000 dollars by RRB Strategies, run by Blagojevich, a former Illinois governor pardoned by Mr Trump last year after serving nearly eight years in federal prison for corruption offences.
The filings said Flynn provided strategic advice, research and introductions to the Republika Srpska government. Blagojevich’s firm had signed a contract in March 2025 to provide communications and public affairs support for the entity.
AAFS given lead investor status
The US embassy in Sarajevo held talks with Bosnian officials about supporting the import of American gas through Croatia. It later announced a preliminary agreement for an American company to develop, build and manage the pipeline.
AAFS was incorporated in Wyoming four days after that announcement. In January, embassy officials confirmed a meeting between the company’s leadership and senior Bosnian officials, including Joseph Flynn and Mr Binnall.
Bosnia’s parliament subsequently granted AAFS lead investor and operator status for the proposed pipeline in legislation passed in April. Later that month, the Croatian and Bosnian governments signed an agreement to construct it, with US Energy Secretary Chris Wright attending the ceremony.
Mr Binnall described the pipeline as a priority for the Trump administration at a news conference with Bosnia’s energy minister.
The White House has said sanctions against Dodik were lifted to prevent instability in the Balkans. An administration official called the move part of Mr Trump’s “pragmatic, farseeing foreign policy”.
A State Department letter included in the congressional report said the decision had helped preserve peace and stability by encouraging Bosnian Serb separatists to withdraw legislation viewed as threatening the country’s central government.
That legislation included measures that would have prevented Bosnia’s national police and judiciary from exercising authority in Republika Srpska.
Jasmin Mujanović, a political scientist and Balkans foreign policy expert, disputed the administration’s reasoning. He said the measures had already been struck down by Bosnia’s Constitutional Court before the sanctions were lifted, and questioned the significance of their withdrawal.
Dodik, who until recently served as president of Republika Srpska, has long been accused of undermining the Dayton Accords, the US-brokered agreement that ended the sectarian conflict involving Bosnia, Croatia and Serbia in the 1990s.
After his Serb nationalist party won one of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s three presidency seats, Dodik praised Mr Trump and thanked Russian President Vladimir Putin for his support.
“If it had not been for Donald Trump’s magnificent victory … we would probably be political corpses today,” he told supporters.
