President Milanović: Poland is our ally; I wouldn’t dramatize, but caution is necessary because these are dark times

“Poland is our ally, and we need to see what happened there. The amount of weapons and the tension that has gripped that area over the past three years had to lead to something like this eventually. We don’t know what exactly happened. It seems there were no specific targets. There is a war being fought on that border—it is all part of a broader war effort in which one side, NATO, is helping Ukraine, which is not a NATO member. Russia invaded Ukraine; it committed aggression. These are dark and dangerous times,” said the President of the Republic Zoran Milanović today, commenting on the downing of Russian drones over Poland.

He reminded that a drone had also crashed in Zagreb, near a student dormitory, a few years ago.

“Poland is our ally. I would not dramatize, but caution is necessary. And there are seventy of our people there as a form of solidarity with NATO,” added the President.

In this context, he also commented on the gathering of the Coalition of the Willing. “This is a proxy war between America and Russia, and they will have to resolve it. Europe will not, cannot, and is not in a position to do so. The Coalition of the Willing is a gathering of forces. It is not about moral support, which is being expressed through various other channels, nor about material support, which Croatia provides through the military equipment it donates to Ukraine. Whoever wants to send troops for a future NATO engagement—but outside the NATO umbrella—in Ukraine, that is where they belong. Those who don’t, and that includes Croatia and most countries that keep their fingers crossed in their pockets while still showing up at those meetings, all the while clearly stating they will not go into Ukraine—I don’t think we should be conducting such a two-faced policy. The Croatian Army, as long as I am President, will not go there. I will not allow it,” emphasized President Milanović.

The President also addressed yesterday’s visit of the Israeli minister to Croatia and his comparison of the Homeland War with Israel’s aggression in Gaza: “That man is the foreign minister of a criminal government, they are maniacal murderers. Beyond being a moral disgrace for Croatia, there are also calculations that by cooperating with such people we might earn the favour of the American administration for some of our other goals. We will not! Croatia should use the instruments available to it as a member of the European Union,” he said.

President Milanović confirmed that the Israeli ambassador to Croatia had not been invited to this year’s diplomatic harvest because of Israel’s crimes in Gaza.

Commenting further on the Israeli minister’s statement, he added: “He said that Croatia had also been unjustly accused. Croatia was disarmed, brutally attacked, semi-isolated, and had to acquire weapons in every possible and impossible way. And it succeeded—largely in the face of open obstruction and hostility from much of the international community, including Israel at the time, with only occasional, discreet, opportunistic help from the US. And now to compare Croatia with Israel!? Croatia was, if anything, mistreated by Israel. Who tried to palm off on us junk aircraft that weren’t even for sale? That was just five years ago. And these are supposed to be strategic allies? Allies who, just the day before, had signed a strategic military cooperation agreement with Serbia,” he said.

President Milanović also spoke about discussions with the Prime Minister regarding the appointment of Croatian ambassadors, warning that the current situation serves “only one person, who in this way retains control he would lose after any agreement we might reach.”

“I don’t comment on the procedure for agreeing on ambassadors, because such an agreement was reached between our representatives in talks in which I personally do not participate, but I observe them. The agreement was—no comment. My side and I are sticking to that, as is the Minister of Foreign Affairs. However, at a certain point his boss decided to provoke and say all sorts of things. I remain silent and wait,” added President Milanović.

Furthermore, the President explained that he would support all the ambassadorial candidates proposed by the Prime Minister, but expects the Prime Minister to support his own proposals, which amount to only a quarter of the total. “We have ninety ambassadors and consuls general to appoint, and we will propose only a quarter of them. So, a quarter of the proposals came from the Office of the President, and they are mostly career people. For me, that issue is settled. Whatever Plenković proposed—regardless of everything—I will accept. And they were told that three weeks ago. We do not comment on the candidates you put forward. It was supposed to be a joint list, but you are not allowing it to be one because you want division. I fear that nothing will come of it,” said the President, repeating: “What Plenković proposed—I accept.”