ZAGREB, 29 Jan 2022 - President Zoran Milanović's statements about Croatian troops' deployment on the eastern borders of the EU are nonsense that causes great harm to Croatia, European Parliament member Tomislav Sokol of the ruling HDZ party said on Saturday, presenting his party's view.
Asked by reporters if Croatian troops would be deployed on the EU's eastern borders, Sokol said that that was a falsehood made up by Milanović.
"It is being alleged that Croatian soldiers will get killed for somebody. What (Milanović) is saying is a complete fabrication. Such statements cause serious harm to Croatia," Sokol said after a convention of the HDZ women's association "Katarina Zrinski".
Sokol said that Croatia supported de-escalation of the Ukraine crisis and that deployment of Croatian troops had never been mentioned.
Earlier this week, Milanović said that Croatia had nothing to do with the conflict in Ukraine and that if the crisis there escalated, there would be no Croatian soldiers in that scenario.
"Croatia has always been in favour of respect for Ukraine's territorial integrity and for a solution to be found peacefully. This is just one more way to attack the government and harm Croatia's international reputation," said Sokol.
Commenting on Milanović's remark that Plenković was acting like a Ukrainian agent, HDZ MP Mario Kapulica said that he was wondering whose agent Milanović was.
Milanović said in an interview with the RTL broadcaster on Friday that he was neither an enemy of Ukraine nor a friend of Russia, but that EU reports showed that the former Soviet republic was a corrupt country, noting that PM Andrej Plenković was acting like a "Ukrainian agent".
Kapulica said that Milanović could not define Croatia's foreign policy on his own and that the period of adaptation to his style of communication was over.
"This current situation is much more serious and much more dangerous... he wants to make Croatia's position as one having nothing to do with either Europe's or NATO's," Kapulica said.
For more, check out our politics section.
