Croatia's ban on the transit of Russian oil to Serbia is in line with EU sanctions against Russia and is not directed against Belgrade but against Moscow, Parliament Speaker Gordan Jandroković said on Saturday.

Jandrokovic added that Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic was attacking Zagreb over the latest decision because he was in an increasingly difficult political situation.

In its seventh set of sanctions against Russia, the EU imposed a ban on Russian oil delivered by tankers, which also prevents the transport of Russian oil to Serbia by Croatia’s JANAF oil pipeline.

This has prompted Vucic to attack Croatia, saying that it is an unreliable energy partner.

“Croatia is a reliable partner implementing sanctions against Russia, and those sanctions were introduced because Russia attacked a sovereign country,” Jandrokovic said in a comment on Vucic’s statements.

Croatia is implementing its commitment and allowing the transport of Russian oil by JANAF would be in violation of the EU sanctions, said Jandrokovic.

The European Commission had proposed that the Western Balkans, which actually refers only to Serbia, should be granted an exemption from the ban so that it could continue importing Russian oil at favourable prices via Croatia, but this was opposed by some of the EU member countries.

Along with Croatia, the main target of Vucic’s criticism, some Baltic countries and Poland were of the same opinion.

Jandrokovic said that Serbia could import oil that was not Russian and that it would be transported by JANAF without any problems, as was already the case.

Describing Vucic’s statements about Croatia as “unfounded and insulting”, Jandrokovic said that Vucic was now paying for his policy of “sitting in two chairs”.

“The Serbian president has problems also on the home front because he has to make a final decision on whether he wants to be part of the West, continue the journey to the EU and accept its values and rules, or opt for support to Russia, which he is now doing covertly and sometimes even openly,” said Jandrokovic.

Reporters also asked Jandrokovic if the EU should suspend Serbia’s accession talks over its ambiguous policy.

“If I said that it should be done, Vucic and his mouthpieces would jump to say ‘the Ustasha are blocking us’.”

“But they are not being blocked by the Ustasha, they are being blocked by their policy which is contrary to the West’s policy and which favours the Russian aggressor in Ukraine,” said Jandrokovic.

Political parties comment on Serbian officials’ statements

The latest statements by Serbian officials were also commented on by the Social Democratic Party (SDP), the Social Democrats, the Homeland Movement and the Croatian Sovereignists.

Commenting on Vucic’s statement that Serbia had decided to build an oil pipeline with Hungary and diversify its energy suppliers and routes, after Croatia said it would not allow the transport of Russian oil by its oil pipeline operator JANAF as part of the EU sanctions, SDP leader Pedja Grbin said that the unsuccessful ones were always looking for someone to blame for their failures and that in that regard, there were not many differences between Vucic and Croatian PM Andrej Plenkovic.

“What Vucic has been doing in Serbia, Andrej Plenkovic has been doing in Croatia on a daily basis. They always look for someone to blame for their failures, for having impoverished citizens,” said Grbin.

Social Democrats leader Davorko Vidovic expressed regret at Serbia’s antagonistic rhetoric towards Croatia, stressing that the country should decide if it believes in European values and wants to join the EU.

The Croatian Sovereignists said that the Serbian state leadership evidently has “a Croatia complex”, warning that “the anti-Croatian hysteria” could have a negative impact on how ethnic Croats in Serbia declare their ethnicity in the ongoing census. The party also said that Vucic had to choose between Western values and the Russian Federation.

In a comment on accusations from Serbia that Croatia is responsible for the suspension of oil deliveries to Serbia, Homeland Movement leader Ivan Penava said that such statements by Vucic were as expected but that he regretted that the Serbian people elected such leaders, who blamed Croatia for everything.

Croatia chose to be part of NATO and the EU and those alliances must have common positions. Vucic and his people must decide if they want to belong to that or some other world, said Penava.