Republika Srpska’s (RS) contested position within Bosnia and Herzegovina makes it a focal point of strategic interest for Russia, China, the EU, the US, as well as Serbia and Hungary. These actors engage with RS through diplomacy, investment, symbolic support, and occasionally through security co-operation. The RS often frames its alignment with Russia in civilizational terms, though this narrative reflects RS’s agenda more than Russia’s. China emphasizes infrastructure, while the EU and the US offer aid conditioned on reforms. Serbia plays a pivotal role due to historical, ethnic, and political ties. The RS demonstrates agency through paradiplomacy, selective alignment, and strategic hedging to bolster autonomy and domestic legitimacy. Its key objectives include resisting centralization, maintaining economic resources and—increasingly—the pursuit of potential independence. These priorities shape RS’s external engagements and are likely to continue, keeping it both an object and a subject of great power competition in the Western Balkans.