"An association of Homeland War veterans in Vukovar-Srijem County said on Tuesday evening that President Zoran Milanovic had 'intentionally shifted the attention to political one upmanship' away from the honouring of war victims during the commemoration in the Luzac suburb of Vukovar on Tuesday morning," state agency Hina said on Wednesday.

“The association, which is called the Association of Patriotic War Volunteers and Veterans of the Republic of Croatia, says in a statement that the President’s “political performance” at Luzac gave precedence to political rows over the sacrifice of local 69 inhabitants who were killed in Lužac in 1991,” Hina said.

“The commemoration at Lužac was neither the time nor the place for political performances, says the association referring to Milanovic’s statements to the press about the ongoing political rows and his disparaging remarks about Defence Minister Mario Banozic,” Hina explained.

“Addressing the press during the Luzac commemoration Milanovic called Banozic “a cigarette butt” and Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic “a creeping nut crusher” among other things,” Hina added.