President of Croatia Zoran Milanović mocked Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić on Thursday, saying it would be “comical if it were not concerning” that Vučić keeps frightening his citizens with stories that Croatia is creating a military alliance against Serbia.
Milanović said this during a ceremonial academy marking the Day of the Croatian Armed Forces, recalling that Croatian Defense Minister Ivan Anušić signed a Declaration on Cooperation in the Field of Security and Defense with Albania and Kosovo last year.
After that, Vučić began accusing Zagreb of forming a military alliance with Tirana and Prishtina against Belgrade.
“The president of our neighboring country is not giving up on frightening his citizens with stories about an attack by Croatia and Albanians against Serbia. This would be comical if it were not so worthless and concerning,” Milanović said, according to Direktno.hr.
He added that since such statements come from the head of state, people are beginning to wonder whether there is any truth in them.
“I know it is humiliating to constantly explain and justify this, but I am speaking for the sake of our people. Partly for the sake of the Serbs as well, so that they understand what pointless business this is,” the Croatian president said.
Milanović also described as “worthless” the statements of some senior officials from the Baltic states who, according to him, were calling for an attack on the Leningrad Oblast, without mentioning specific names.
“We are in solidarity based on Article 5 of NATO. But to what extent? Absolutely. So we have no influence or knowledge of what any of our 30 allied states may mean,” Milanović said.
He added that Croatia is in an unenviable position because it has its soldiers stationed in Lithuania.
Speaking about international conflicts, Milanović said that today, besides Russia as the aggressor in Ukraine, “we also have an aggressor in the Middle East.”
Due to the security situation, he also ordered the withdrawal of Croatian soldiers from Iraq and Lebanon.
“International law is the best friend of small states when it is not humiliated and violated in the way it is today,” Milanović said. /The GeoPost
