President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, told reporters on Tuesday that he would repeat all he said on Saturday at the commemoration for Serb victims of Croatia’s 1995 military offensive Operation Storm.

Zagreb reacted angrily at Vucic’s comment that “Hitler wanted the world free of Jews and Croatia’s policy wanted Croatia without the Serbs,” saying the relations with Belgrade would be frosty and that the President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic would not visit Belgrade anytime soon.

“Whenever they (Croatia’s officials) want to come, they are welcome. If they don’t want, they don’t have to,” Vucic said.

Referring to his speech in the northern town of Backa Palanka, Vucic said he could have said more had he knew what would happen on Sunday during Croatia’s central celebration and during the concert of a controversial singer nick-named Thompson who hailed the audience with a notorious (Croatia’s WW II Nazi puppet state armed force) Ustashas’ “For the Homeland, Ready” salute.

“I have been wrong a million times saying something I should not have. A man makes a mistake and says he is sorry. But, whatever I said on August 4 in Backa Palanka I wrote and read ten times to say it properly, and I would repeat it for the 11th time with an addition about the way how the ‘Storm’ was celebrated, “ on August 5, Vucic said.

He has added that “unfortunately” the relations between Belgrade and Zagreb have not been particularly warm and sincere even before, “not because of Serbia’s decision, but due to a permanent (Croatia’s) policy against our country and our people.”

“I’m not going to beg them; I’m not going to lament because of  ‘the chase’ launched against me. It will be better for them to look what they have done,” Vucic said.

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