The President of Bosnia's Republika Srpska (RS) entity, Milorad Dodik, said that a referendum on the independence of the RS from Bosnia and Herzegovina will be held, and its date has yet to be determined.

“There is a decision on secession, but no specific date has been set yet. A lot of analysis needs to be done. We would like to do it now, but, apart from us, there are two other parties in the process. This, of course, takes time,” Dodik said in an interview with TASS on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.

He added that the process of negotiations on disassociation is ahead.

“We are convinced that there is already enough historical and civilizational maturity that it's necessary and it will happen.”

According to him, if the RS were to remain part of Bosnia and Herzegovina, it would be a waste of time and opportunity, and that is why it is necessary to achieve what the RS wants as soon as possible in order to stop wasting resources in vain hoping that Bosnia and Herzegovina will do something.

“We don't want to create instability on the territory of our country, that is why, first of all, we proposed to BiH to separate and move in that direction,” Dodik said.

Republika Srpska could join Serbia after its future secession from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Dodik told TASS.

“Yes, it would most likely be natural, absolutely historically justified, for countries where the majority of the population is Serbian to unite into a single structure and community, but that is the task of future generations and the political decisions of both countries,” he said on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF).

the RS President cited the example of the unification of East and West Germany, in which “the German people lived freely” and constituted the majority. “Then, of course, they united in an absolutely historically justified way,” he added.

He also said that now the relations between Serbs “show that they want to live freely and make up the majority in the RS”.

“In Republika Srpska, the majority of Serbs live among peoples who also live freely [on its territory]. Likewise, today in Serbia, Serbs make up the majority of the country's population,” Dodik concluded.