“Look at the Swedes who want to join NATO. They may have been rude and arrogant towards Turkey for the last 30 years, but now they are asking for mercy. Therefore, be careful how you talk and what you do, because as our people say, ‘what goes around comes around,“ noted the Croatian president to Serbia.
The Serbian War Crimes Prosecutor’s Office has indicted four senior Croatian Army officers for alleged war crimes. They are accused of ordering the plane rocketing of a column of refugees on Petrovacka cesta near Bosanski Petrovac and in Svodna near Novi Grad in Operation Storm (Oluja) on August 7th and 8th, 1995.
On Tuesday, Milanovic told Serbia that an indictment against four Croatian pilots for alleged war crimes would lead to consequences for that country, which Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic described as a threat.
“Who is the Prime Minister of Serbia? Brnabic again? Our island woman from Krk. I haven’t seen her on Krk for a long time, she is welcome,” said the president, who then recalled the time when he was prime minister.
“I could not save someone who was tried from prosecution. Let’s say my party colleague, from the county. No one in my government was accused because it was a fair and working government, but there were some awkward situations,” he recalled.
Stoltenberg can’t change anything
The president disagrees with the Croatian government over Finland and Sweden’s candidacy for NATO membership and wants Croatia to make support for those countries conditional on a solution to the election law of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH).
Milanovic and NATO Secretary–General Jens Stoltenberg spoke by phone on Tuesday, citing Milanovic’s letter to all members of the Alliance regarding the position of Croats in BiH.
“He can’t change anything here, he is a technical person. He is expected to distribute the letter, now everyone who wanted to read has seen it and that’s it,” Milanovic commented.
E.Dz.