World media: Dodik uses referendum on January 9 to prepare ground for RS secession

On the day of the visit of the president of the BiH entity Republika Srpska, Milorad Dodik, to Moscow, where he will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and three days before the holding of the referendum on the Day of Republika Srpska, world media write about Russia's interests in BiH, as well as that official Moscow is the only one supporting the citizens' expression of opinion, reports the Patria news agency.

Reuters states that this "autonomous Serbian entity in BiH will defy the highest judicial institutions in BiH on Sunday by holding a referendum", in which they will declare whether January 9 should remain a holiday, noting that this will "in some way also pave the way for separatist intentions that have existed in Republika Srpska since the '90s".

They recall that the Constitutional Court of BiH has twice decided to ban the holding of the referendum on the Day of Republika Srpska because, as the British agency states, it discriminates against Bosniaks and Croats living in that BiH entity.

They also note that January 9 is the day in 1992 when Bosnian Serbs, after the breakup of the former SFRY, declared their republic.

Reuters claims that many believe that "by organizing the referendum and not backing down from holding it, Milorad Dodik is actually defying with the aim of pointing out the weaknesses of state institutions in Sarajevo, and that this will prepare the ground for a vote on the secession of that entity in BiH".

The United States, which mediated in the negotiation of the Dayton Peace Agreement in 1995, as well as Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić, have warned on this occasion of the risk of renewed instability in the Balkans.

The holding of the referendum is also opposed by the European Union, and the only one supporting it is Russian President Vladimir Putin, who, the British agency states, is a "traditional ally of the Bosnian Serbs".

In this regard, they also note that Putin invited Dodik to Moscow for consultations three days before the referendum.

Al Jazeera