"Russia's brutal aggression against Ukraine represents the violation of all principles of international law, and resembles the aggression on Croatia in 1991, Croatia's Prime Minister, Andrej Plenkovic, said in Brussels on Friday.

“Aggression of this type against Ukraine represents a denial of all values which the international order is based on, and represents a violation of every single principle of international law,” Plenkovic said after attending a meeting of EU leaders in Brussels.

He described Russia’s aggression on Ukraine as “brutal,” and added that the situation in Ukraine is similar to what happened to Croatia in 1991, at the onset of Croatia’s 1991-95 war of independence.

“It looks very similar. However, this invasion (in Ukraine) is on a much larger scale,” said Plenkovic.

Sanctions imposed on Russia without impact on Croatia

The leaders of the European Union on Thursday reached an agreement on a new round of sanctions on Russia’s financial, energy, and transport sectors. They include Russian banks Sberbank and VTB which hold an interest in Croatia’s major retail and food group Fortenova.

“I don’t think that this kind of sanctions against the Russian banking system would result in any large impact on the ownership of Fortenova… I don’t think Croatia’s economy would suffer much from these sanctions against Russia,” Plenkovic said.

Some countries even suggested disconnecting Russia from the SWIFT global electronic messaging system used globally for bank payments, although the measure has not yet been adopted. European media speculated on Friday that Germany, Italy, Cyprus, and Hungary are opposing such a move.

“We are ready for sanctions regarding SWIFT, just like most of EU members are prepared for that,” Plenkovic said in Brussels.

When asked about Russia’s retaliation and potential restrictions on Russian gas supplies, Plenkovic said that efforts were being made to procure gas supplies from Norway, Azerbaijan, and Libya, and to procure liquefied gas. “In the long run, an alternative network for gas supply is in the making,” he said.