Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic commented on the meeting on Hvar between Croatian President Zoran Milanovic and Republika Srpska (RS) Entity President Milorad Dodik.
When asked if he knew that Dodik was coming to Croatia, Plenkovic replied that he did not and that the situation was very unusual, and that everything should be investigated.
“This is a very unusual situation, I have no influence on who the President of the Republic of Croatia invites to Croatia, he has every right and freedom to do so, this is more about the technology of that trip. And now, for example, I expect an urgent initiative by the opposition to convene an extraordinary session of the Parliament and to discuss the topic of someone without a proper diplomatic note, which is usually sent in such situations by the embassies of the countries from which their leaders come, and to request a detailed statement from the president how is it possible that the guest came to him without notice through the usual means,” said the Prime Minister.
When asked if the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Croatia had information about this, due to entering Croatian airspace, i.e. crossing the Schengen border, Plenkovic said that he did not have it in a way that would be normal.
“If the state, all its services, diplomatic services, police, air traffic control, the Croatian army, everyone who needs to know, had been asked for the usual permits, they would all have been approved, so this kind of mystical arrival seems a little out of the ordinary to me. But, well, when you have people who don’t even respect their own Statehood Day, then I guess anyone can come as their guest, in any way, and without notice,” he added.
Dodik came by helicopter of the Serbian Army, and Plenkovic pointed out that he saw in the media that Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said this.
“I didn’t know whose helicopter he was coming with and how he was coming. I appeal to all of you, you have every right, for the person who called Dodik to explain all these details,” stressed the Prime Minister.
The Croatian media wrote that the helicopter entered Croatia as an ordinary civilian aircraft. The Croatian Air Traffic Control stated to them:
“The flight plan for the mentioned flight was submitted to the Croatian air navigation control by the ARO of the Banja Luka airport. The flight plan did not indicate any special status of the flight in the column provided for that,” it was announced.
The aircraft passed over half of Croatia without surveillance.
The Croatian media also wrote that “the official bodies of the RS and Serbia completely cheated the official bodies of the Republic of Croatia and violated all valid diplomatic protocols because they reported the state aircraft as the most ordinary civilian.”
According to the usual procedure, when a person with the status of president comes to Croatia, the embassy informs the Croatian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Ministry of Defense, they give their approval, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs sends the approval to the embassy, Klix.ba reports.
E.Dz.
