Prime Minister of Croatia Andrej Plenkovic said on Thursday he did not know about the arrival of Milorad Dodik, the President of Bosnia's Republika Srpska entity, on the island of Hvar, where he met with President Zoran Milanovic. But, Milanovic's Office stated later the same day that the Interior Ministry was informed about the visit and it was unlikely Plenkovic was not informed about it. The President's Office also said that was "an expected, yet still rude manipulation" and that "everything was in line with procedure."

The President’s Office notified the Interior Ministry’s Border Administration about Dodik’s arrival, it said in a press release on Thursday, and the ministry acted in line with procedure, ensuring and conducting a border check given that Dodik was coming from Bosnia and Herzegovina, which is not in the Schengen Area.

Earlier the same day, Plenkovic said that if protocol had been respected, all Croatian services would have approved Dodik’s visit. “But when you have people who don’t respect their own Statehood Day,” he said, alluding to Milanovic, “I guess they can have anyone come as a guest, in any way, and without an announcement.”

The President’s Office responded that it was not possible that Plenkovic did not know about Dodik’s arrival.

“And then Andrej Plenkovic says he doesn’t know what the Interior Ministry knows, a ministry totally controlled by the HDZ (Plenkovic’s party). This is really an insult to common sense because Andrej Plenkovic has privatised and subordinated nearly every state institution, which we see on a daily basis,” the press release said, adding that “only someone naive and unacquainted with his model of governance” could believe that the ministry did not inform him of Dodik’s arrival.

On Friday, Defence Minister Mario Banozic said the Defence Ministry was not notified about Dodik’s arrival, calling out Milanovic for wanting to “keep this meeting from the public.”

“A diplomatic note should have been sent to the Foreign Ministry and based on that, the Defence Ministry would have given its opinion. In that way, the other bodies, too, would have been informed, which wasn’t the case,” Banozic told Nova TV.

Dodik arrived on Hvar by helicopter. Banozic said Air Traffic Control probably received some information about it, so there was no need for any reaction.

MIGs are raised when radars can’t identity an aircraft, he said, adding that Croatia’s air space is safe.