Sarajevo dailies on Wednesday quoted Dodik as saying during Tuesday's visit to Novi Sad that a referendum on independence was the only way out of the current situation in Bosnia-Herzegovina which he described as bad.
"If the authorities in Sarajevo keep repeating that Republika Srpska should not exist and that it is based on genocide, they will get a referendum as a response," Dodik was quoted by "Dnevni avaz" daily as saying during the visit to the northern Serbian province of Vojvodina.
"Oslobodjenje" daily quoted Dodik as saying that calling a referendum would be a futile political adventure because the international community would not support it.
But the daily also reports that Dodik believes that this solution should be insisted on so that eventually it becomes acceptable to others as the only way out. The Bosnian Serb prime minister also said that he was confident that 90 percent of the electorate would vote for independence from Bosnia-Herzegovina in such a referendum.
The Serbian government has reported that a delegation of its senior officials, led probably by Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica, will visit Banja Luka by the end of the week. Serbian Finance Minister Mladjan Dinkic has confirmed for the press that the referendum issue will definitely be discussed during the visit.
Dodik's statements about the independence referendum coincided with an article in last weekend's The Times, which included a map of Europe as it could look like in 15 years' time considering the growing secessionist aspirations in some of its regions. Bosnia-Herzegovina is not on the map and it is replaced by Republika Srpska and Herzeg-Bosnia.
Bosnian Foreign Minister Mladen Ivanic said that this was a realistic forecast of possible tensions in some regions.
If states fail to solve their internal conflicts to the satisfaction of all peoples, it is only logical that they should be divided, Ivanic said in a comment on the projection from The Times.
Commenting on the map, Ivanic's colleague in the Bosnian government, Safet Halilovic, said that some "diplomatic-intelligence circles" in Great Britain had continued working on the partition of Bosnia-Herzegovina.
This prompted a harsh response from Ambassador Rycroft, who said in a written statement to the media in Sarajevo that Halilovic's statement was incorrect and irresponsible, and that it should be immediately withdrawn.
Halilovic responded that he had no intention of apologising, and "Dnevni avaz" daily additionally explained that Halilovic was not referring to the incumbent British government but some political circles in Great Britain.
The emergence of the map and advocacy of a referendum are not a coincidence, Halilovic said, adding that this was evidenced by the role of some mediators in the Balkans like Lord Robert Owen.