Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said on Tuesday that no request had been made to Croatia to send troops to Ukraine.

No one has ever suggested and we have not been asked by anyone to send our soldiers to Ukraine, Plenković said on Tuesday evening in response to President Zoran Milanovic’s accusations that Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic would involve Croatia in the war in Ukraine if he could.

Milanovic said in a statement that Plenkovic “cannot get over the fact that the parliament prevented Croatia’s indirect involvement in the war in Ukraine and is particularly annoyed that he cannot now lead Croatia into an even greater disaster, namely that he is unable to offer to send Croatian soldiers to Ukraine on his own initiative.”

The prime minister said that there had been no proposals for the deployment of Croatian soldiers in Ukraine and that this had not been mentioned at the Paris meeting of Western allies on Monday evening.

Plenkovic accused Milanovic of using “the pro-Russian narrative” and pursuing “a hallucinatory policy”.

Milanovic’s pro-Russian narrative harms Croatia, the prime minister said, reiterating that Zagreb shows strong solidarity with Ukraine and condemns Russia’s war of aggression and all violations of the principles of international order.

When asked by the press whether French President Emmanuel Macron’s statement that although there was “no consensus” on sending Western ground troops to Ukraine, “nothing should be ruled out” and that the West would do everything necessary to ensure that Russia could not win this war was in fact an irresponsible remark, Plenkovic replied in the negative.

Macron is the president of a large European state that has a different kind of responsibility, the Croatian prime minister said

“The bigger and stronger a country is, the more responsibility it has for global security,” Plenkovic said.

Prime minister says president is lying about Croatia’s offer for troop deployment in Ukraine

Plenkovic criticised President Milanovic for his “lie” that the Croatian authorities had offered to send Croatian soldiers to Ukraine.

“It is a lie that we offered Croatian soldiers to Ukraine,” he said after a meeting of the HDZ party executive in Zagreb.

Plenkovic again commented on the case of the jurisdiction of the Croatian Prosecutor’s Office and the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) regarding a possible misappropriation of funds involving the Zagreb Faculty of Geodesy, reiterating that in the case concerning the 3D surveying of buildings damaged in the 2020 earthquakes, “it has been established beyond doubt” that national funds were used.

If something does not fall within your jurisdiction, you should pass the case on to those who are responsible for it. Everything should be in accordance with the law. Jurisdiction cannot be extended just because someone wants it, Plenkovic said.

The prime minister again remained vague about the date of the parliamentary elections, which are due to take place in Croatia in 2024.