Bosnian prime minister Zoran Tegeltija officially requested the removal of Defence Minister Sifet Podzic, after he said that the joint military exercise of Serbian and Bosnian armed forces scheduled for October would not take place as planned.

To become effective, the request for the minister's dismissal needs to be confirmed by the Parliament of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The information about the exercise not taking place on the set date sparked strong reactions, particularly by Serb member of Bosnia's tripartite Presidency Milorad Dodik, who asked for Podzic's removal over what he called “non-compliance with the Constitution of BiH”. Dodik also said that the Presidency is the institution in charge of the country's foreign policy.

Minister Podzic denied the accusations, explaining that the exercise was not cancelled but postponed over the epidemiological situation in both BiH and Serbia, and will take place as soon as the conditions for that are met.

“A small number of our soldiers have been immunised and I simply refuse to take over the risk of them all getting infected. As soon as the epidemiological situation is improved we will hold the exercise,” said Podzic.

Other two Presidency members, Bosniak Sefik Dzaferovic and Croat Zeljko Komsic, welcomed Podzic's decision.

In a joint statement they issued on Tuesday both Presidency members said that the decision was “reasonable and justified.”

They named the requests for Podzic's dismissal “ungrounded and unjustified.”

The prime minister, formally the Chairman of BiH Council of Ministers can launch the procedure for removal of ministers and deputy ministers. If the Parliament accepts the request, the Chairman is to act in line with law and appoint new minister i.e. deputy minister.