The Ukrainian authorities have regretted the «unacceptable» statements of the President of Croatia, Zoran Milanovic, in which he assured that «Crimea will never again become part of Ukraine», and denounced that they call into question the territorial integrity of the country.
In statements to the media, Milanovic also warned the Western powers that the supply of arms to Ukraine had made them participants in the war against Russia, a country he called a «nuclear power».
Now, Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleg Nikolenko has criticized Milanovic’s stance and recalled that Croatia had to fight in the 1990s to preserve its statehood.
«I wonder if Milanovic would have been able to become president of his country with this rhetoric in the 1990s (…) Would his voters agree to turn a blind eye to the occupation of part of their country’s territory,» he said.
Nikolenko stressed that at the end of the last century Croatia could have lost «a third of its lands» but that, thanks to a «heroic struggle», they were finally able to «protect their independence», reports the Ukrainian agency UNIAN.
Earlier, the Croatian president had referred to the conflict as a war between Russia and the United States and warned that sending German tanks to Ukraine «will only prolong it» and «could lead to a Third World War».
In fact, Milanovic and Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic have recently clashed over the Balkan country’s collaboration with the European Union Military Assistance Mission in Ukraine (EUMAM).
While Plenkovic has declared himself in favor of participating in the European mission, Milanovic – and the Croatian Parliament itself – have refused to participate in any way in the conflict in Ukraine and also in EUMAM.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)