This visit to Ukraine has reinforced the friendship between Kyiv and Zagreb, but this relationship is in no way directed against Russia, Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said in Lviv on Thursday at the end of his two-day official visit.

“This visit has reinforced the excellent relations between Croatia and Ukraine, a very good political atmosphere that we have been building for years,” Plenkovic told the press while summing up the visit.

The interest in good relations and cooperation was shown by the Ukrainian-Croatian economic forum, organised by the two countries’ chambers of commerce in Kyiv on Wednesday. The event brought together representatives of over 200 companies – about 60 Croatian and 150 Ukrainian.

Another indicator of excellent relations is the joint declaration on the European perspective of Ukraine, which was signed by Plenkovic and President Volodymyr Zelensky.

As for relations with Russia, that is a big country with which Croatia has continued dialogue, and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov recently visited Croatia, Plenkovic said. His visit came at the height of tension between Kyiv and Moscow over the Russian troop buildup near the Ukrainian border.

Plenkovic said that Croatia and Russia maintained both political dialogue and economic cooperation, citing the presence of Russian companies in Croatia and of Croatian companies in the Russian Federation.

“There are certain views and principles in international relations to which we adhere and Russia knows that. We know their views and they know ours,” the Croatian PM said.

“Our relationship with Ukraine is in no way against Russia,” Plenkovic stressed while responding to questions from the press.

Croatian President Zoran Milanovic on Thursday described Plenkovic’s visit to Ukraine as “plain charlatanism” at the time of great tensions with Russia and said that Plenkovic would flee to Brussels “if things get rough”.

“I don’t know why he said that. … Our Ukrainian friends will certainly be delighted by such a statement of the Croatian president,” Plenkovic said.

Asked if Milanovic’s latest statements on genocide were detrimental to Croatian diplomacy, the prime minister replied in the affirmative. Asked if he should cooperate with the president on foreign policy, Plenkovic said: “Yes, but not with someone who, for example, has such views on the nature of this visit to Ukraine.”

Plenkovic confirmed that next week he would visit Bosnia and Herzegovina at the invitation of his Bosnian counterpart Zoran Tegeltija, with whom he had spoken during a visit to Budva, Montenegro last Friday. He will visit Sarajevo on Monday morning and Mostar in the afternoon.