\u201cLeave General Kundid alone \u2013 if you have a problem with me, talk to me. The military operates on the basis of orders. A soldier knows what he is allowed to do and how he must behave in any given situation. A soldier carries out orders. When it comes to commanding the military, there is a Commander in Chief and there is a Chief of the General Staff. When it comes to orders, Plenkovi\u0107 and Anu\u0161i\u0107 should stay out of it,\u201d the President of the Republic and Commander in Chief of the Croatian Armed Forces Zoran Milanovi\u0107 told the Prime Minister and ministers who have in recent days criticized and publicly targeted the Chief of the General Staff of the Croatian Armed Forces General Tihomir Kundid for carrying out the President\u2019s order and not sending members of the Croatian Armed Forces to the military parade in Paris.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNo one can do anything to Chief of the General Staff Kundid. They are dangerous bluffers,\u201d President Milanovi\u0107 added, recalling that members of the police also went to Paris on orders issued through the police chain of command. \u201cKundid was supposed to do what the Commander in Chief ordered him to do, just as officers of the Lu\u010dko Anti-Terrorist Unit acted on Bo\u017einovi\u0107\u2019s order, or rather on the decision he passed down to the Director General of Police. Things are clear if one wants to be minimally fair. But when the goal is to persecute Chief Kundid, a man who cannot defend himself \u2013 and that is what Plenkovi\u0107, Bo\u017einovi\u0107 and Medved are doing \u2013 it is disgraceful because Kundid cannot answer to them,\u201d said President Milanovi\u0107.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The President added that he respects members of the special police, \u201cbut they are not the Croatian Armed Forces, and any attempt to compare them with the Armed Forces, as if there were some rivalry, is inappropriate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He especially singled out Minister Davor Bo\u017einovi\u0107 for criticism over his attack on General Kundid. \u201cDavor Bo\u017einovi\u0107, who previously served as Head of the Office of President Mesi\u0107, used to interpret the President\u2019s constitutional powers in military command in an almost dictatorial way. That same Bo\u017einovi\u0107 \u2013 who came to the SDP saying that Mesi\u0107 would win the election and that we would crush the HDZ \u2013 later joined the HDZ and everything changed. Bo\u017einovi\u0107 has no right to speak about this because he should first answer for his own actions,\u201d the President said, warning that he would raise the issue \u201cevery time they mention the Chief of the General Staff in such a vile manner \u2013 a man who cannot and will not defend himself, simply because he carried out an order.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
President Milanovi\u0107 also argued that Prime Minister Plenkovi\u0107 should not have agreed to sit in the second row as Croatia\u2019s representative in Paris, behind Serbian President Aleksandar Vu\u010di\u0107, since Serbia is not a member of the EU, NATO or the Coalition of the Willing. He said that, were he Croatia\u2019s Prime Minister today, he would not have accepted such an arrangement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cProtocol is politics. If it was an EU event, then Vu\u010di\u0107 was a guest and cannot sit in front of the Croatian Prime Minister in the front row. If it was an event of the Coalition of the Willing, why should Serbia be seated in the front row? In that case as well, Plenkovi\u0107 has no place in the second row. If it was a NATO event \u2013 and it was not, because there were no Americans \u2013 Vu\u010di\u0107 again cannot sit in front of Plenkovi\u0107. So the French have special dealings with Serbia, and they behave as if we do not exist,\u201d the President said, reiterating that he had decided the Croatian Armed Forces should not take part in the parade in Paris under such circumstances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBut our top officials have no problem with that; they are there to oblige and line up. At whose expense? To make matters worse, this also concerns Serbia, to which the French sell weapons \u2013 some to us, some to them \u2013 and then explain that it is all for a better future. I do not see that as sound state policy. I will continue to ask all the necessary, uncomfortable and legitimate questions until someone provides an explanation, while they can keep attending military parades and sit behind Vu\u010di\u0107.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He further explained why he opposed the participation of the Croatian Armed Forces in the Coalition of the Willing parade. \u201cAs far as Croatia is concerned, I oppose its participation because, for now, this is merely psychological preparation for war against Russia. Nothing is happening in the European Union in economic, social, cultural or any other terms; the EU is focused exclusively on the narrative of war and on attempts to finance arms production. The EU has put itself in an unfavourable position, though not yet as unfavourable as it could become if this reckless behaviour continues. Russia poses no threat to the territory, security, peace or lives of EU citizens. But a conflict can be provoked, and some people are eager for that \u2013 and then they will flee. And who do they think they will mobilize for it? Croats? That will not happen,\u201d said President Milanovi\u0107.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
PHOTO: Office of the President of the Republic of Croatia \/ Marko Beljan<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cLeave General Kundid alone \u2013 if you have a problem with me, talk to me. The military operates on the basis of orders. A soldier knows what he is allowed to do and how he must behave in any given situation. A soldier carries out orders. When it comes to commanding the military, there is a Commander in Chief and there is a Chief of the General Staff,\u201d told the President of the Republic and Commander in Chief of the Croatian Armed Forces Zoran Milanovi\u0107.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":44140,"template":"","news-cat":[12],"class_list":["post-44141","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-cat-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n