Milorad Dodik, who was stripped of his mandate as President of Republika Srpska (RS) by the Central Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina (CIK), after he was convicted by a final verdict for failing to implement the decisions of the High International Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina, announced that he will soon travel to Moscow, where he will ask Russian officials to veto the extension of the EUFOR "Altea" mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the United Nations (UN) Security Council.
Dodik assessed that BiH is currently "under occupation".
"You have a local civilian administration by a foreigner called (High Representative in BiH Christian) Schmidt and an armed part of that occupation called Altea. We want to remove both. And in order to remove both - we have to be a separate state," he told Russia's Sputnik.
At the end of each year, the Security Council votes on the extension of EUFOR's mandate in BiH.
He added that EUFOR forces in BiH were "most often used as a threat to Serbs", emphasizing that RS wants "foreigners to stay out of decision-making in BiH" and "foreign occupation forces to withdraw".
"This is not possible at the level of BiH, and therefore Republika Srpska must declare itself independent and have its own system of functioning, apart from Sarajevo and apart from foreigners," Dodik said.
He assessed that "there will obviously be not only a warming of relations, but also an agreement" between Russian and American Presidents Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump, and that "Europeans are literally groaning, waiting their turn."
He pointed out that the RS will adopt a resolution on self-determination, after which it will hold a referendum on independence.
"I think it's a path that's unstoppable," he said.
He added that during his announced visit to Moscow, he will ask "Russian friends" to support RS in the UN General Assembly in its efforts to move forward with the referendum towards independence.
"We have talked many times before, but it has always been about preserving peace and stability. We do not think that a referendum can destroy peace and stability. It is important that we have the political right as a constituent people to go to the referendum and express our opinion on it," Dodik said.
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