The President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Zoran Milanovic, stated on Monday that the Chief of the General Staff, Tihomir Kundid, will not be able to attend a public session of the Parliamentary Defence Committee due to secret information about the NATO mission "Security Assistance and Training for Ukraine".

Milanovic addressed the public ahead of a parliamentary decision on Croatia’s participation in the NSATU mission after he twice instructed Kundid not to attend Defence Committee meetings where the mission was to be discussed.

Milanovic said he had never claimed that Croatian soldiers would be physically present in Ukraine as part of the NSATU mission.

“This untruth, which may not even be crucial to this story, is persistently spread by (Prime Minister) Plenkovic and his subordinates, the leadership of the same party (HDZ) that used Russian, Moscow money and donations to overthrow my government in 2014 and 2015, when Russia was already under sanctions for the invasion of Crimea. This is a notorious fact that everyone knows because it is public.”

“I did not sign this 13th war order”

Milanovic said NSATU was a war planning and support mission, the first of its kind in the history of this war. He recalled that in recent days he has signed 12 decisions for the deployment of 945 members of the Croatian Army, 770 of whom will serve in NATO peacekeeping missions.

“I did not sign this 13th war mission,” he said, adding that any mission that directly supports one of the warring parties is a war mission, regardless of where the personnel are stationed.

Before the discussion and decision in Parliament, the Parliament’s Defence Committee must debate Croatia’s participation in NSATU. As the proposer, Defence Minister Ivan Anusic is obliged to present and explain all the facts and aspects of the mission to the MPs so that an informed decision can be made. According to Milanovic, only the applicant, i.e. the government and the Ministry of Defence, has all the technical and, above all, the most important political information.

He added that “the HDZ has decided that the meeting of the Defence Committee will be public, which means that excluding the public would somehow ‘hide’ some information” Nothing would be hidden except legally and contractually protected information, namely military secrets, he said.

Several reasons for instructing the Chief of the General Staff not to attend the meeting

Milanovic said he had decided for several reasons that the Chief of the General Staff would not attend the committee’s public meeting.

He said that the decision to participate in the mission was political and had to be explained and taken by politicians, not soldiers. The task of the Croatian Army is to execute the decisions made by the constitutionally competent state bodies and it cannot be used as a shield for politicians to hide behind, he added.

Since the views of the Commander-in-Chief and the government differ on the decision, it is unacceptable and inappropriate, but above all insidious, to put the Chief of the General Staff in a position where he may have to take sides, Milanovic said. “This is a dangerous practise for democracy. The Chief of General Staff is on the side of the law and the constitution. He has clearly defined tasks and powers, which certainly do not include involvement in political decisions. And it must stay that way.”

Milanovic added that Kundid “has no information that the applicants for the decision, the government or Minister Anusic do not already have.”

“Some aspects of the NSATU mission cannot be discussed in public meetings”

In his speech, Milanovic emphasised the term “defence policy” and added that a defence policy department exists only within the Ministry of Defence and not as part of the General Staff of the Armed Forces. According to the law, the Ministry and not the General Staff is responsible for the planning and preparation of operations.

Milanovic insisted that the main reason why the Chief of the General Staff is not allowed to participate in such public discussions in an open and public debate is that Kundid was announced by Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic and Defence Minister Anusic “as a witness” for this session.

Some aspects of the NSATU mission cannot be discussed in public meetings. They can be discussed in meetings of the competent bodies and authorities, such as the Defence Council, which has not been convened for three years. Or the National Security Council and the Defence Committee, but behind closed doors, Milanovic said.

“A brazen attempt to deceive the public”

During the decision-making process on Croatia’s participation in the NSATU mission, some information was classified as secret, which is relevant for further decision-making but must not be made public, Milanovic said.

In this context, he mentioned the information provided to him, the prime minister, the defence minister and the Chief of the General Staff on 23 September.

Forcing the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces to attend a meeting in which he cannot disclose all the information he has is “an outrageous attempt to deceive the public and manipulate the Croatian Army.”

Milanovic accused the current government and the ruling HDZ of trying to manipulate the army and involve it in political processes. He said he would oppose any such attempt and would protect the Croatian Army as well as the constitution and the democratic order.