Croatian President Zoran Milanovic and retired officers and war commanders of the Croatian Defence Council (HVO) on Monday talked about HVO's role in defending ethnic Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the contribution of HVO members to defending Croatia during the 1991-95 war.

Retired HVO officers thanked President Milanovic for his decision last year to decorate the HVO guards brigades and the MUP HR HB Special Police on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of  Croatia’s liberating Operation Storm.  Also, they welcomed President Milanovic’s “consistency in his position on Croats as a constituent people” in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

President Milanovic thanked retired HVO officers on their contribution to the defence of Croatia and reiterated that Croatia would persist in protecting the rights of Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina as an equal and constituent people.