Defence Minister Mario Banozic said on Thursday it was totally unacceptable for representatives of the Russian military industry to meet with representatives of the Aircraft Maintenance and Repair Centre (ZTC) but that his ministry did not supervise the ZTC and had a contractual relationship with it.

“Holding such meetings is totally unacceptable,” the Croatian minister told reporters in Brussels, where he was attending a meeting of NATO defence ministers.

Asked if he knew what Russians did at the ZTC, Banozic said that he did not and that he would request a report as soon as he returned to Zagreb.

Banozic said that the Military Security and Intelligence Agency (VSOA) could not supervise a civilian institution, the ZTC being a company operating on the market and working with civilian aircraft.

He criticised MP Franko Vidovic and President Zoran Milanovic, who said that the Defence Ministry should have known about the meeting.

“I see that someone… is trying to cause communication chaos, informing citizens in an incorrect and unfair way. I am surprised an MP like Franko Vidovic could say that we should have known about it.”

Banozic added that his ministry did not participate in the work of the ZTC’s assembly and had no control over the company but just a contractual relationship with it.

The ministry now wants to get involved in the selection of members of the ZTC management so that competent persons are chosen and communication becomes clear, Banozic said.

He added that “considering the accumulated problems at the ZTC”, he would meet with Physical Planning, Construction and State Assets Minister Ivan Paladina and the chairman of the Steering Council of the Restructuring and Sale Centre (CERP), which owns ZTC, to discuss the ZTC.

“We’ll have to go through the part that concerns the management and reporting,” he said.