Milorad Dodik, the president of the Bosnian-Herzegovinian entity Republika Srpska, ordered several officials from his party, the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD), to form a working group in 2024. Its task was to draw up a plan for the secession of RS from Bosnia and Herzegovina.
This is part of a statement issued three days ago by the US Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). It lists RS Interior Minister Siniša Karan and Secretary General of the RS Government Dalibor Panić as part of the secessionist group.
Karan and Panić, who were placed on the OFAC "blacklist" on January 17th for their participation in organizing the celebration of the unconstitutional RS Day, it is added, were part of this secessionist working group, which wrote the secession plan for Dodik.
The OFAC statement did not clarify which working group it was referring to, although one with similar goals was formed in the RS at the end of May last year.
Namely, at that time the RS Government appointed an eight-member working group, which was supposed to write an agreement on the "peaceful separation" of RS and the Federation of BiH, the two entities that make up Bosnia and Herzegovina.
In addition to Panić and Karan, there were three other people who were previously under OFAC sanctions - Miloš Bukejlović, Minister of Justice of the RS, Jelena Pajić Baštinac, Secretary General in the Office of the President of the RS, and Dragan Stanković, Director of the Entity Geodetic Administration.
The public was denied details of whether this working group met, reached conclusions, or wrote documents.
The document relating to the disassociation was supposed to be the topic of the session of the RS National Assembly on July 9, under a different name, but it was withdrawn from the agenda. At the time, it was stated that the document was proposed by a group of deputies.
"Peaceful disassociation" is impossible with the current legal framework in BiH, as it would require changes to the Constitution and the introduction of a referendum on the issue into state legislation, which would require a two-thirds majority in the House of Representatives of the Bosnian-Herzegovinian Parliament.
'There was no talk of secession'
One of those sanctioned is Dalibor Panić, Secretary General of the Government of Republika Srpska.
He claims to Radio Free Europe (RSE) that he never participated in meetings where the secession of RS was discussed, and that he "was not given the task of doing anything against the constitutional order of BiH and the Dayton Agreement."
"I don't know if there is any act where some kind of working group was formed to carry out secession. At least I don't know, even though I claim to be part of that working group. I don't know about such meetings, I didn't participate in such meetings," said Panić.
Another sanctioned person linked to the secessionist working group, Siniša Karan, the RS Minister of Interior, did not respond to RFE/RL's calls and messages.
Lazar Stjepanović, legal representative of the RS, was one of the members of the working group for the peaceful separation of the RS from the Federation.
He tells RFE/RL that he does not know which specific working group OFAC is referring to, but "he assumes they are the ones in question."
He points out that after the initial meetings, immediately after its formation, the group no longer met.
"The working group met and after that we didn't have any activities. At least as far as I know, I wasn't involved, maybe something was happening without me," said Stjepanović.
At the same time, Darko Ćulum, director of the BiH Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA), told RFE/RL that they have not been informed of any plans for secession or working groups, while the BiH Prosecutor's Office did not respond to RFE/RL's inquiry about whether these allegations are being investigated.
The US Embassy in Sarajevo responded that they were closed due to the inauguration of the new US president on January 20th.
No meetings for fear of sanctions?
The parliamentary opposition in RS also agrees that this is a working group formed by the RS Government for the "peaceful separation of RS and FBiH".
"Unless they (OFAC, ed. aut) have some other information, that some informal group was created and was doing something behind the scenes," Igor Crnadak, president of the Party of Democratic Progress's parliamentary group in the RSNA, told RFE/RL.
He states that according to his information, the working group did not even meet because they were afraid of sanctions, and thought they would avoid them that way.
"We asked for that information at the sessions, tell us what's being done, they just kept quiet. What do lawyers say - they defended themselves with silence," said Crnadak.
The 'Creeping' Secession of RS
Although the RS authorities, led by Milorad Dodik, have not taken explicit steps towards secession from BiH, they have nevertheless implemented a series of steps reducing state powers over the past few years.
Last March, in its annual assessment, the US Intelligence Community noted that Dodik was "taking provocative steps to neutralize international monitoring in BiH and secure de facto secession for RS."
In the summer of 2023, the RS National Assembly passed laws that provide for the non-application of decisions of the Constitutional Court of BiH on the entity territory, as well as for the High Representative's decisions not to be published in the RS Official Gazette.
Due to the signing of the decree promulgating these laws, a trial is underway against Dodik before the Court of BiH.
At the end of 2021, the entity parliament adopted conclusions that envisaged the takeover of state powers in the areas of defense, indirect taxes, and the judiciary, but this did not happen.
At that time, a law was also adopted that provided for the establishment of the RS Medicines Agency, although such an institution exists at the state level. To date, it has not been established.
Dodik has also repeatedly threatened secession if the High Representative in BiH imposes a law on state property.
An attempted secession of RS would be a direct violation of the Dayton Agreement and the Constitution of BiH, which define the status of the entity.
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