The idea of Bosnia’s Serb-majority Republika Srpska (RS) entity becoming an independent country is “realistic”, the Chairman of Bosnia’s tripartite Presidency, Milorad Dodik, said on Tuesday, adding that he expects increased pressure on BiH from the United States and Europe.

Despite this pressure, he stressed that no decision can be made regarding the country without local authorities and legitimate representatives of the constituent peoples.

“Bosniaks can dream what they want and that is not forbidden. However, I wish Republika Srpska to be independent, which is very realistic. I believe in the reality called Republika Srpska, and I do not believe in the imagination called BiH,” Dodik said.

Dodik said that statements that BiH is “unfinished business” but that, at the same time, the existing borders in the region are final, can often be heard coming from the United States.

“How can you say that the job is not finished and that the borders are definite? What was finished then? You want to force us into a ghetto in which Sarajevo will decide on everything to the detriment of Serbs. Well, that is not possible,” Dodik said.