On Monday, Montenegrin Defense Minister Dragan Krapović told his Croatian colleague Ivan Anušić that Croatia cannot blackmail Montenegro over the ownership of the ship “Jadran” just because it is a member of the European Union.
On Saturday, during his stay in Montenegro on the occasion of the Croatian People’s Day, Anušić canceled a meeting with Krapović because of his views on the Morinj military camp and the Jadran ship.
“If colleague Anušić thinks he can blackmail Montenegro just because Croatia is a member of the EU, then he made a wrong assessment. As a minister, I will exclusively act in accordance with the interests of Montenegro, and I understand his personal attacks as confirmation of the correctness of Montenegro’s policy, which I implement as its minister,” Krapović said in a statement to the RTCG portal.
He previously said that he believes that Anušić politicized the story surrounding the ownership of the ship Jadran due to the fact that Croatia is in an election year.
On Thursday, Krapović said that according to the agreements signed after the breakup of Yugoslavia, Croatia has no right to claim the training ship Jadran.
Anušić clarified that in those statements, Krapović made it clear that his views are completely on the opposite side of those that he, as the Croatian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense, represents.
“These views that were expressed are not unacceptable to us, but they are absolutely unacceptable to us,” Anušić said in a statement to RTCG.
Croatian head of diplomacy Gordan Grlić Radman said earlier that, in the event that Montenegro and Croatia do not agree bilaterally on the issue of ownership of the ship Jadran, they will go to international arbitration.
“We consider it alienated property and ask that it be returned to its home port of Split. If we cannot solve it bilaterally and by agreement, we can consider and involve the international court,” he said.
After the dissolution of the SFRY, the ship Jadran was used by the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, and after the separation of Serbia and Montenegro, the ship remained in Montenegro.
Since the signing of the Agreement on the Succession of the SFRY in 1992, Croatia has insisted that the ship, whose home port is Split, belong to Croatia, but so far no bilateral solution has been found.
That ship is used by the Montenegrin Navy to train its sailors and the Maritime Faculty in Kotor to train students.
Since it is a representative building, the Montenegrin authorities also organize receptions for high-ranking guests, Hina news agency writes.
