Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said on Wednesday that Croatia would react "clearly and resolutely" if Russia attacked Ukraine.

Russia has caused concern in Kiev and the West by amassing troops and equipment near the border with Ukraine and there are fears that it is preparing for an attack. Moscow denies this and says it has the right to deploy its troops on its territory any way it wants.

Speaking in the Croatian parliament, Plenkovic said that the situation in the east of Ukraine was very worrying and the most tense since 2014 and conflicts between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian rebels.

“Croatia does not want the situation to escalate and it will react clearly and resolutely to prevent any instability,” the PM said without being more specific.

An EU member, Croatia is also a member of NATO which has warned Moscow a number of times that it will face serious consequences if it attacks Ukraine. On several occasions Zagreb has offered Ukrainian authorities its experience in the peaceful reintegration of the Croatian Danube region, which in the 1990s was under occupation by ethnic Serbs.