Serbian Defence Minister Aleksandar Vulin, who has announced his arrival in Jasenovac for Sunday, is not welcome in Croatia for the time being, the Croatian Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs said in a press release on Saturday evening.

In the meantime, the ministry forwarded a note to the Serbian embassy in the capital of Zagreb, condemning Vulin’s statement that “it is only the Serbian Army’s supreme commander, Aleksandar Vucic, who can decide on his travel to Croatia and that this cannot be decided by Croatian ministers”.

Such statement given by Vulin has made him persona non grata until further notice, the Croatian ministry said in its explanation.

The ministry’s note forwarded to the embassy reminds Serbia’s authorities that Croatia is a sovereign country, a member of the European Union and NATO, and decisions on allowing foreign citizens to enter Croatia fall exclusively within the jurisdiction of Croatian institutions, in line with Croatian laws.

Underscoring by Vulin the function of Vucic as the army supreme commander who would decide on allowing anybody to enter Croatia is unacceptable and inappropriate attempt to negate Croatia’s sovereignty, the ministry says.

It also points out that Vulin’s statement is another provocation made by a Serbian official following a disgraceful incident in the Serbian parliament during the 18 April visit of a Croatian parliamentary delegation to Belgrade, and definitely undermines endeavours to develop good neighbourly relations.