On the occasion of the anniversary of the drone crash in Zagreb, Defence Minister Mario Banozic said in the eastern Croatian town of Vukovar on Friday that all the data that could have been collected about this case had been collected, but that the resolution of all the details would have to wait until the end of the war in Ukraine.

“We’ve spoken with all the NATO member countries over which the drone passed, we’ve collected the data that we could, there is one more part that needs to be determined, but you know that there is still a war in that area so we will have to wait for a while longer,” Banozic said.

He noted that since then the procedure has been launched for the procurement of a short-range air defence system, and announced that before the end of the year  Croatia would sign a contract for the procurement of a medium-range air defence system as well.

“I recently signed the decision to modernise our radar system, and with the acquisition of a medium-range anti-aircraft system, we would complete the whole story,” he said and added that what is not good is the fact that 20 years of non-investment in the Croatian Army has left a negative mark.

“If the anti-aircraft defence system had been acquired earlier, we would not be in this situation today,” he said.

Commenting on his the relationship with President Milanovic and his letter to the Prime Minister, Banozic said that you cannot create destruction and then claim that you are the one who wants to be constructive.

“That letter is completely incorrect because it was sent in December, and a lot of things have happened since then. It was obvious that it was written deliberately and the facts were not presented regarding the military defence system because all the names of the people who were recommended and that he, who now wants to be constructive, did not accept the recommendations, including that for the most prominent among them, the director of the Military Security Intelligence Agency,” explained Banozic.

“He ignored the recommendations and conditioned them with some kind of packages. However, the law does not recognise these packages,” said Banozic.