Croatia is currently not directly purchasing weapons for its army from Israel, the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Croatia announced, after Croatian President Zoran Milanović called on the government to end trade in weapons and military equipment with that country.
“At the moment, the Ministry of Defense does not directly procure weapons for the Armed Forces of the Republic of Croatia from Israel. The Spike anti-tank missiles, which are in the process of procurement, are originally Israeli, but the Ministry of Defense procures them from the German company Eurospike, which manufactures them under license,” says the statement of the Ministry of Defense, which is reported by Hina news agency.
It is also added that the army owns Orbiter drones as well as a small number of remotely controlled weapon stations on Patria, but that a possible decision to ban the purchase of weapons from Israel would not have an impact on the armed forces.
“A possible decision to ban the purchase of weapons from Israel would not have an impact on the Armed Forces of the Republic of Croatia, since we are focused on European and American suppliers, and the aforementioned weapons and assets that we possess of Israeli origin are not of vital importance for defense and can be replaced by European components,” the Ministry of Defense points out.
Earlier on Saturday, Milanović called on the government to end trade in arms and military equipment with the current government of the State of Israel, given that the purchase and sale of weapons and military equipment is within its jurisdiction.
The Office of the President of the Republic of Croatia also said that Milanović, as president and commander-in-chief of the Croatian army, “as part of his constitutional powers, ordered the Armed Forces of the Republic of Croatia to cease all forms of military cooperation with the Israeli army as early as May of this year.”
But the Ministry of Defense says that Croatia has no military cooperation with Israel, “neither had nor planned to have.”
