President Milanović: Through the NSATU mission, NATO is entering operational planning of the war in Ukraine

“The vast majority of citizens of Croatia oppose any and every form of active involvement of Croatia in the conflict in Ukraine. You can tell me that I am misleading the public, but these are empirical polls and the average of those polls says so. Two years have passed since the Croatian Parliament rejected the possibility of the Croatian Army and troops, officers, participating in the European mission of training Ukrainian soldiers in Croatia and abroad. That mission has been in force for two years. Have you heard anything about it in the meantime? How many Ukrainian soldiers have been trained and how many of us, total amateurs, the entire West, in relation to Ukrainians after two and a half years of bloody war, can train Ukrainians? Not at all, except in those high tech things, information, data processing, where cooperation is taking place as we speak here and as I respond to your claim that I am misleading the public, so let the public hear. And let it stay that way, as far as I’m concerned,” the President of the Republic Zoran Milanović said in Tivat on Tuesday in responding to a question from the press about Croatia’s participation in NATO’s NSATU mission, that is, whether he is misleading the public with his claims about that mission.

“Therefore dragging NATO two and a half years after the beginning of the Russian invasion in Ukraine – since until now NATO as an institution was not formally and legally present in Ukraine in any way – into that conflict because someone decided to make it happen, I say, feel free. But, while I am president of Croatia and commander-in-chief, while the vast majority of Croatian people think so – and you cannot say that I am misleading the public, people have been informed after two years – I will not sign it. Therefore, I will not give my consent, order. If there is some kind of majority as prescribed by the Constitution in the Croatian Parliament, I invite them to take on that responsibility, but I will not say go ahead because I do not want to encourage it, but I will accept it,” he noted.

“So, the NATO training mission – forget it, because there is no training. More importantly: logistical support in Ukraine is the mission by which NATO enters the war conflict. The planning of war needs in headquarters in real time, for the Ukrainian army, is entry into the war. I find it hard to believe that there is an adult who does not understand this. And, at the end of the day, the position of the public in Croatia, to which I am referring, shows that people are very clear about this”, the President of the Republic emphasized, adding that only children believe that this type of involvement of NATO in the conflict in Ukraine is not an act of war. “I claim that it is. All adults know that this is so,” he pointed out.

“Therefore, what we already know, clearly indicates that NATO by means of that mission is entering the operational planning of the war in Ukraine for the first time. Can anyone in NATO refute that? What is that called? Whether the people who should participate are physically in Wiesbaden or in Kyiv, doesn’t matter. So, even if they are not physically in Ukraine, but they are, I affirm that and I know that, and the one who hides that is misleading the European public, because the citizens should know. I don’t accept and don’t want that responsibility. So those who want the war to go on let them send their children, their sons and daughters to Ukraine. This war will have to end by diplomatic means and won’t end well for those who conducted it on the Western side. All of us – myself included – pushed Ukraine into this catastrophic plight. The country is ravaged, and this should end as soon as possible. Let’s say that in this matter I agree with some rare European leaders, with whom I don’t agree with their support of Netanyahu’s regime. For me, both he and Putin are accused since they are suspects before the International Court of Justice. There is no difference there”, President Milanović noted when elaborating his position on the conflict in Ukraine.

Journalists were interested in President Milanović’c view on current relations between Montenegro and Croatia given the Resolution on Jasenovac adopted in the Montenegrin Parliament and three Montenegrin officials being declared personae non gratae in Croatia.

“This episode is an example and a lesson that one should not get too involved in some topics that are primarily Croatian domestic political topics. I don’t know what the Montenegrin Parliament needed? That slim majority, which we know how it was created and we know that half of those who voted for the Resolution on Jasenovac, that it is an ordinary slim majority in which half of those who raised their hands for the Resolution, are actually against it,” said President. Milanović, who believes that “relations between Croatia and Montenegro are good”.

“In the Montenegrin Parliament of 80 members, 60 of them see and interpret that issue rationally, namely do not enter a conflict with your neighbours. And I will reciprocate and will not interfere in your affairs, i.e. in your relationship with Serbia, the conception and experience of Serbianness in Montenegro. Who am I, a Croat from Zagreb, to preach to you on that. When they adopt such decisions, when they want to show off for one day, then let them think about the consequences. That goes for us Croats too. I am not the one who will preach to you, so Montenegro should not preach to Croatia about Jasenovac because if anyone stood on the side of anti-fascism, it was me. I don’t feel indebted to anyone for the crimes of World War II. We had our own path, it was full of stumbling blocks and mistakes, but at its core it was just. Croatia is a follower of anti-fascism and ZAVNOH, not NDH”, President Milanović added in responding to a question from the press. 

“The Brdo-Brijuni Process is not a process. We’ve had our fill of those European Union processes and none of them led to the next. This is a form of communication between people and states, some of which have not even mutually recognized each other. As long as it is so – that alone is worth the effort”, the President of the Republic Zoran Milanović said after the meeting of heads of state of the Brdo-Brijuni Process, which is being held in Montenegro. He added that this meeting is a process that lasts for years, characterized by meetings that take place once a year, and between which nothing organically happens.

“The European Union is one huge, very inert system that Slovenia and Croatia managed to enter, and we benefit from that. I don’t see any ideology or any homeland Europe in that. My homeland is Croatia”, President Milanović declared, adding that the remaining states that are waiting to join the European Union are losing patience. “States will lose patience; Montenegro as an internationally recognized state by all, Kosovo as a state that hasn’t been recognized by five European states. I see our role and our task in encouraging them to keep their spirits up and not to stop their actions”, President Milanović noted.

He added that he would not speak on behalf of the European Union and Brussels, that huge and ineffective administration that has its challenges in challenging times such as inertia and weakness when competing with more powerful and unscrupulous players. “Here I am speaking as Croatian president. Will I in the future, will be decided by Croatian citizens at the end of the year. If I will, I will speak the same and commit myself to the same. I want our neighbours – I will single out Montenegro as our host – to be our friends. For that to happen, we have to invest something, have understanding for their problems and confusing domestic politics. As much as possible, I will continue to devote myself to it in good faith,” President Milanović said.

Attending the meeting in Tivat – apart from the presidents of Croatia and Slovenia – were the President of Montenegro Jakov Milatović, the President of the Republic of Kosovo Vjosa Osmani Sadriu, the President of the Republic of Albania Bajram Begaj, the President of the Republic of North Macedonia Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova, and all three members of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina Željko Komšić, Denis Bećirović and Željka Cvijanović.

PHOTO: Office of the President of the Republic of Croatia / Marko Beljan