Statements given by Croatian Prime Minister Plenković during his visit to Ukraine were not welcomed by Moscow.
“We call on Croatia, instead of giving unrealistic proposals about its experiences with ‘peaceful reintegration’ which is being proposed to the Ukrainians, to focus more on solving its own chronic problems, related to the rights of Serbs and other ethnic minorities in Croatia”, wrote the Office of Information and Media in a comment published on the official website of the Russian Foreign Ministry, reports Jutarnji List on November 22, 2016.
Russia reacted strongly to the proposal of Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković presented during his visit to Kiev on Sunday and Monday, that Croatia was ready to transfer to Ukraine its experiences on peaceful reintegration of occupied territories, which could be applied to areas of eastern Ukraine – Donetsk and Luhansk.
Croatian proposal, as described in the commentary of the Office of Information and Media, “raised serious concerns in Russia”. Furthermore, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs warned that the basis of solution for the problems in Ukraine was the Minsk peace agreement, which describes in detail what should be done to regulate the problem of Donetsk and Luhansk. Such a proposal, according to the commentary, would only remove Kiev’s focus on the obligations it has under the Minsk agreement. “The Minsk agreement has no alternative”, according to the commentary.
The proposal is also viewed as part of an agreement on the “Croatian-Ukrainian military cooperation”, noting that the price of Croatian integration of its territory was the persecution of 250,000 Serbs during the operations “Flash” and “Storm” in 1995.
“We think that the advice from foreign ‘consultants’ can create with the Kiev authorities an illusion that they can use violent scenarios for Donetsk, but this would not help solve the situation there”, states the commentary.
In addition, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs additionally protests because the Croatian proposal on “peaceful reintegration” refers to the Crimea as well, which has been, according to the commentary, annexed to Russia “on the basis of free will expressed in the referendum in the Crimea”.
