Republika Srpska will hold a referendum on its independence from Bosnia and Herzegovina. The date will be set according to the interests of the parties, the entity's President Milorad Dodik told TASS.

Dodik, who was in St. Petersburg and met with Russian President Vladimir Putin, confirmed to TASS the plans to organise a secession referendum.

“A specific day has not yet been set. A lot of research still needs to be done and the analyses finalised. We would like to do it now, but there are two other parties involved in this matter. Of course, this will take time,” he said in an interview on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF).

“Our task now is to start the negotiation process. But we are sure that at this stage there is already enough historical, general civilisational maturity and understanding that this should and will happen,” Dodik said.

Earlier, Dodik stated that the Republika Srpska authorities will prepare a resolution on the peaceful secession of the entity from Bosnia and Herzegovina within 30 days. According to him, it will provide for the preservation of the current model of functioning of the economy and its adaptation to the model of peaceful separation within a few years.

The Bosnian Serb leader launched the initiative after the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution on the Srebrenica genocide in May, declaring 11 July as the International Day of Remembrance of the 1995 Srebrenica genocide committed by Bosnian Serb police and military forces against Bosniaks in the then UN safe zone.

Dodik described this move as illegal and also said in the interview with TASS that the international community paid no attention to the murder of some 3,500 ethnic Serbs by Islamic militias in the Srebrenica region during the armed conflict in the early 1990s.

The Foreign Minister of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Elmedin Konakovic, had previously dismissed Dodik’s announcement as nonsense and pointed out that it would not materialise.