A government meeting was held in Zagreb, at which Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic made an opening statement. He spoke about the cancellation of the vote in Parliament on NSATU activities.

He said that he still saw “a complete misunderstanding” of the situation among some opposition parties.

“Therefore, the entire package will be voted on when the conditions are right. Both the Speaker of the Parliament and we believe that additional efforts must be made to explain to the public and MPs what is true and what is a lie. The truth is that neither Croatia nor any other ally participating in this action will become a party to the war; we are not entering into a military conflict with Russia.

The government’s position is that we want to participate in the mission, which is essentially a consequence of the declaration of the NATO summit in Washington. There, Zoran Milanovic did not speak out against this activity, let alone suggest that Croatia would not participate. The government wants to be a responsible member of the Alliance and help Ukraine. The proposal to send two officers to Germany came from the military command, it was not the decision of the government or me, but of Croatian officers.

Milanovic “attacked the Croatian Parliament”

Since the matter is quite clear, and because of the lies and confusion that Milanovic has created, we believe that the public and MPs need more time to understand what is going on, so that we do not appear as a country that has difficulty understanding something very simple. I am sorry for Tihomir Kundid, who was practically detained during the meeting of the Defence Committee. This is a precedent that Croatia has not yet experienced, a deep disrespect and contempt for all Croatian soldiers and officers. The government strongly opposes this because it is not in the national interest, but only because the Croatian political scene, led by Milanovic, is siding with Russia. That is the only consequence,” said the Prime Minister.

He also called Milanovic’s claim that he was a defender of democracy “a vile lie.”

Plenkovic again accused Milanovic of being a “sinister violator of the constitution” and claimed that Milanovic had “overstepped the role of the President of the Republic” and ultimately “also attacked the Croatian Parliament.”