"Foreign Minister Gordan Grlic-Radman on Monday labelled President Zoran Milanovic as 'vermin' over his contentious statements on Ukraine, and wondered whether the president was working in Croatia's interest or someone else's," state agency Hina informed the public on Monday.

Milanovic said last week that Ukraine was a “corrupt country” which “did not belong in NATO,” that its former president Viktor Yanukovych was overthrown in a coup in 2014, and that the crisis on the Ukraine-Russia border was a consequence of the US home policy. Ukraine issued a stern response to his remarks, and Milanovic’s statements were carried in the international media.

“We don’t know if he’s really working in Croatia’s interest, or if something else is at hand,” Grlic-Radman said on state television HRT. “He is not doing his job at all. He has isolated the country, diminished Croatia’s international standing. He’s doing us a lot of damage. He’s like vermin.”

He said the president’s statements on television should carry a warning “not for children under 12” because of “the vulgar violence.”

Grlic-Radman said Milanovic’s policy of “doing nothing” also applied to Bosnia and Herzegovina, where negotiations are under way on election law changes. “I’d like to see him call someone, contact his counterparts, write letters, warn.”

He said that in 2010 Milanović supported Zeljko Komsic, the incumbent ethnic Croat member of the tripartite BiH Presidency, who was “elected with Bosniak votes,” Hina explained.

Representatives of Croat and Bosniak parties in BiH yesterday wrapped up a three-day round of negotiations on changes to the election law, but failed to reach a final agreement.

Grlic-Radman said the Croats were “the most constructive” at the talks, making suggestions and agreeing to restricted constitutional changes.

He accused the Bosniaks of “stalling the process” and said they would have to assume responsibility for “possible radicalisation and destabilisation.”