Croatian President Zoran Milanovic said that while on post, Croatian soldiers will not engage in activities that would push Croatia to war. Milanovic shared this information last night on his personal Facebook profile, quoted by BTA.
Earlier yesterday, the Croatian government accused him of obstructing the participation of Croatian officers in the training of Ukrainian soldiers conducted by NATO, claiming that the purpose of this activity was to send them to Ukraine, recalls Croatian television HRT.
„As long as I am President of the Republic of Croatia and Supreme Commander-in-Chief, Croatian soldiers, non-commissioned officers and officers will not participate in activities that lead Croatia to war,” Milanovic wrote on Facebook.
He added that the NATO exercise amounts to direct support to a non-NATO belligerent country, which is beyond the scope of Croatia's national interest, regardless of whether it is one or a hundred soldiers, wherever they are .
„The commitment of the Republic of Croatia to our NATO allies is also reflected in the fact that I have agreed to increase the participation of military personnel of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Croatia in the border countries of the Alliance by almost 80 percent, from 300 to 520 people. I would like to emphasize that Croatia has an obligation to help only its allies and we do it every day. Anything else is joining the war, which I do not agree with and will not allow. I answer only to the Croatian people, not to Washington and Brussels – and it will stay that way”, it is also written in Milanovic's publication.
Croatia has been a member of NATO since 2009