"If everything that happened at the session of the Republika Srpska (RS) entity parliament and the presence of the RS police on the entity boundary line is not a test and a sign that the authorities of Republika Srpska are serious about their separatist intentions, then I don't know what else will be? Maybe a murder for someone to wake up", RS MP and former Vice President of this BiH entity Ramiz Salkic told N1.

Salkic was asked whether RS President Milorad Dodik’s secessionist threats were empty talk, or if there was something behind it.#related-news_1

“I don't think they’re empty threats, I think the ground is being prepared. To implement such a big thing as separatism, you have to lay the ground and create internal support for that activity. Serbia and Russia are the sponsors of such a policy, and the main task is on Dodik, who must educate new generations of children and youth who will believe that the establishment of a new Serbian state is possible, and they do this through the educational process. It all boils down to the Serbian Academy of Science and Arts (SANU) ‘Memorandum 2’ agenda from 2011/12 which, after there was no reaction from the international community over the verdicts for genocide, stating that the VRS had committed genocide – they felt that it was the right moment to take the next step to demarcate and divide the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Dodik does it patiently, he always talks about the division, but he doesn't talk about the date. He is working on that ‘right moment’. All analysts, politicians and public workers saying that these are empty talks, contribute to the realization of Dodik's plan because there is no counterbalance to that separatism, some patriotic bloc that will oppose it,” Salkic told N1.

Are there persons or political subjects who could oppose Dodik's alleged plan with a different policy?

“We must all oppose the separatist policy, together, in such a way that the state is above all else, that we clearly recognize, label and establish in the public space what Dodik is doing and that we advocate a strong reaction from the representatives of the international community. If Ramiz is advocating that, but you trivialize it, of course, the one from whom we expect some kind of help is in a dilemma because those who defend BiH are not united in terms of the seriousness of Milorad Dodik's separatist activities. If everything that happened at the RS parliament session and the presence of the police on the entity boundary line is not a test and a sign, then I don't know what else will be. Maybe a murder is needed for someone to wake up,” Salkic asked.

The Democratic Action Party (SDA) MP also commented on the American sanctions against individuals from Republika Srpska, expressing hope that this is the “beginning of the end” for Milorad Dodik and that it would relieve a huge number of Bosnian citizens, especially “a huge number of Bosnian Serbs who are trapped by his politics.”