Following his recent statements about Ukraine that sparked widespread criticism in Croatia and abroad, Croatian President Zoran Milanovic said on Friday that he was neither an enemy of Ukraine nor a friend to Russia, and accused Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic of behaving like an Ukrainian agent.

Milanovic’s words about Ukraine not belonging in NATO and depicting the country as one of the most corrupt in the world prompted the Croatian government to distance itself from those views and apologise. In an interview with RTL commercial broadcaster, Milanovic said he did not think he had gone overboard.

Commenting on his claims about widespread corruption in Ukraine, he went on to say that reports made by the EU also state that Ukraine is corrupt, and that he does not intend to apologise.

“Ukraine has a problem and must start solving it, it has a problem also with the separatists whom Russia has not recognised either. So, negotiations should be resumed and one should not ignore the fact that there are some negotiators who are not nice guys, but talks should be held with them, rather than insisting on confrontation with the nuclear and hyper-sonic power Russia,” Milanovic said.

Milanovic: EU behaves irresponsibly towards Ukraine

He criticised the European Union, saying the bloc was behaving irresponsibly towards Ukraine.

“Ukraine has got nothing from the EU. Billions and billions have been promised,”Milanovic said, insisting that he is neither an enemy of Ukraine nor a friend of Russia.

Milanovic also accused Ukraine of glorifying heroes from the World War II who “were mass executors of Poles and Jews.”

He went on to say that, while PM Plenkovic behaves like “an Ukrainian agent”, he himself acts as the Croatian president.

He described Croatian Foreign and European Affairs Minister Gordan Grlic-Radman as “a disgrace” and someone who is incapable of performing the job of a minister.

He said that it was Grlic-Radman who paid a visit to Moscow recently and invited President Vladimir Putin to visit Croatia.

On the other hand “I am not siding with the Russians,” said Milanovic.

I have never paid an official visit there (Russia) and I never drank coffee with the Russian ambassador, he added.

After his recent statements about Ukraine, Milanovic was denounced as a pro-Russian collaborator on Ukraine’s online blacklist.

Milanovic ended up on the Ukrainian name-and-shame list for saying that Ukraine does not belong in NATO and that the European Union triggered a coup d’etat in Ukraine in 2014 when the pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych was ousted, and that Croatia will not in any way get involved in the Ukraine crisis in case of its escalation and that it will not deploy its troops there.

Asked about that list, Milanovic said that he did not fear for his own security.

“Why should I be afraid… They will end up on my list… I expect the Ukrainian government, which is allegedly pro-Western, to deal with such people,” he said.