Against Ukraine and NATO: what is behind the scandalous statements of the President of Croatia
Croatian President Zoran Milanovic, who was born in the town of Malaya Moskva, came under criticism from the Ukrainian media for his policy towards the Kiev regime. The author of the article in the European Truth calls his refusal to support Ukraine's accession to the EU and NATO "clownish behavior", and the politician himself is an agent of the Kremlin.
Vladimir Tsybulnik
For more than two years, there has been a strange situation in the friendly Republic of Croatia: Zoran Milanovic, who was elected president of the country in early 2020, surprises everyone with incomprehensible statements on domestic and foreign policy issues, insulting not only the head of government Andrei Plenkovich, but also Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ukraine and Great Britain and many others.
In addition, the Croatian president has already promised to veto the accession of Finland and Sweden to NATO. And before that, he categorically opposed the support of Ukraine. With his semi-clownish behavior, he is somewhat similar to Zhirinovsky. And sometimes it even looks like an offended child.
It has reached the unprecedented. After another insulting statement to his address, the Prime Minister of Croatia announced that he was announcing a boycott of the president and, together with members of the government, was stopping communication with him! What is going on in Zagreb? And is Milanovich capable of harming, in particular, Ukraine's European aspirations?
Grandfathers fought
At first glance, there is nothing special about the biography of the President of Croatia, and everyone can find it both on the Internet and in the library. In general, he had an ordinary career. A law student at the University of Zagreb. Worked as a lawyer, in the Croatian Foreign Ministry and abroad. He was the prime minister of the country. But there are several interesting points that should be paid attention to in the context of searching for an answer to the question put in the title.
The first is the grandfathers. Mr. Zoran was born in October 1966 in Zagreb. But his parents were from the small town of Xin on the Adriatic coast. By the beginning of the Second World War, this city also had a second, unofficial name – Malaya Moscow. The communists and those who sympathized with Soviet Russia were so powerful there. Including one of his grandfathers from Sin joined Tito's partisans in 1942 and fought for the liberation of Yugoslavia from the Nazis.
But there was also a second grandfather, writes Croatian investigative journalist Robert Bajruch, information about whom is practically absent. According to the journalist, this grandfather was in the units of the Ustashe (Croatian right–wing radical, eventually - fascist party, which fought on the side of Germany and Italy during World War II) and died in 1945 during the mass executions of Ustashe captured by partisans in Bleiburg (Austria).
According to Bayruch, that is why Milanovich visited the memorial to the fallen Ustashe in Bleiburg more than once and took part in the ceremonies of Croatian radicals. In 1990, Milanovic joined the Social Democratic Party (SDP), created on the basis of the Union of Communists of Croatia, which he headed in 2004. Apparently, the first grandfather, from Little Moscow, won the victory.
In August 2011, the Croats heard about "Kukuriku". This was the name of the left-wing electoral coalition created by Milanovich, whose somewhat strange name came from the name of the restaurant where it was conceived over a glass of wine. And in the autumn of the same year, in the parliamentary elections, the coalition defeated the Christian Democratic Commonwealth (CDU), and Milanovich headed the government.
Assessments of his activities as head of government are very ambiguous. A Croatian diplomat friend of mine in 2014 assessed the Prime Minister Milanovic in this way: "So far, nothing good. A populist, of which there are few. He managed to put Croatia at odds with all its neighbors." Not everyone can do this. However, despite the rather ambiguous assessments of the results of his activities, in January 2020 Milanovic is elected President of the Republic of Croatia.
The theses that ensured his victory were indicative. During the elections, Milanovic positioned himself as a politician who supports the EU and NATO. This favourably distinguished him from his rival and at that time incumbent President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovich, who began flirting with Putin. Most Croats didn't like it, and they chose Milanovic.
Insulted President
So why did Milanovic change his rhetoric so much after becoming president? Before answering this question, it should be noted that both – President Milanovic and Prime Minister Plenkovic – in the main allegedly work together in the name of Croatia – for improving the living standards of the country's citizens, fighting corruption, switching to the euro, joining the Schengen area, strengthening NATO and improving the mechanisms of the European Union.
At the same time, in Croatia, the president performs mainly ceremonial functions and is a representative figure, and the real power belongs to the Prime Minister. When you hear Milanovich's speeches and analyze his actions, sometimes it seems that he took up arms against everyone. I was offended by Premier Plenkovic, the Croats, the whole world. But this harms Croatia, because it leads to a confrontation between the two branches of government.
Already one of the first speeches of Milanovich, the president, was marked by his sharp and incorrect criticism of Plenkovich, where he almost descended to personal insults against the prime minister. But that was just the beginning.
It got to the point that the president said that the ruling CDU, whose leader is Plenkovic, was created by Serbian special services. Anyone who is familiar with the very difficult Serbian-Croatian relations knows that such an accusation is like death not only for a Croatian politician, but also for any citizen.
However, the absurdity of this statement was so obvious that almost no one in Croatia paid attention to these words. Except the left. Several times the president tried to openly influence personnel appointments and, contrary to the law and existing rules, tried to appoint "his man" as a judge of the Supreme Court and influence personnel appointments in the army.
Trying to gain the support of the army, he pardoned several officers, whom the court sentenced to life imprisonment for organizing the murder. The president did not really like the restrictions imposed by the government during the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.
But Milanovich's favorite toy remains foreign policy. This is confirmed by a large number of his statements on this topic, which sometimes do not contribute to increasing the international prestige of official Zagreb. Here are just a few examples.
Relations with Bosnia and Herzegovina are a priority for Croatia's foreign policy. More precisely, the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina of Croats, who make up thirteen to fourteen percent of the population there.
In the Croatian political elite, many consider the rights of Croats in BiH to be limited, especially in terms of electing a Croatian representative of the three-member presidium of BiH, and compete in the number of proposals put forward on this issue, up to changing the constitution of another country.
Milanovic also decided to make his proposals, but they were negatively perceived by the Bosnians, caused dissatisfaction with Turkey and the Gulf countries, the international community, and this brought the negotiations of BiH politicians on this issue to an impasse.
The President's support of Milorad Dodik (a member of the Presidium of BiH from the Serbian people and the most systematic defender of Russian interests in the Western Balkans) and the Great Serbian nationalists causes not only surprise, but also concern of the international community and Plenkovich.
The Prime minister said that Milanovic's steps in this context caused such damage to Croatia's interests in BiH that it "will not be washed away by the rains of Mostar" (the largest city in Herzegovina, where heavy downpours are not uncommon).
Milanovic did not ignore the problem of Kosovo, which not only did not contribute to negotiations on its settlement, but also maintains tension in the still difficult Serbian-Croatian relations.
And recently, he categorically stated that he does not support the accession of Finland and Sweden to NATO, as the two countries reported after the start of the Russian special operation against Ukraine. But how does Milanovich explain it?
The answer is impressive. There are quite a lot of problems in the Western Balkans, including the non-accession of Romania and Bulgaria to the Schengen area, the constant postponement of Albania and Northern Macedonia's accession to the European Union, as well as the non-recognition of Kosovo. This means that until the issue of the election law in Bosnia and Herzegovina is "settled", the Croatian Parliament cannot ratify the accession of any country to NATO.
It is not surprising that such a statement worried NATO allies, and the Foreign Minister was forced to disavow the president's words.
Ukrainian interest
And what do we care about the disputes between Milanovich and Plenkovich?
The answer is simple: we, Ukrainians, are not indifferent to what is happening in a country whose government and citizens are doing a lot to help in the fight against Russia.
Croatia is one of the few countries that has fully fulfilled the Ukrainian request for military assistance and provided sixteen and a half million euros worth of small arms, which is enough to arm four brigades.
In addition, more than five million euros worth of humanitarian aid has been provided during the two months of our resistance. Eighty-five children from the FC Shakhtar Academy, fifteen mothers and several coaches received asylum in Croatia thanks to Dario Srna, one of the coaches of the club, the former captain of the Croatian national team and Shakhtar.
Zagreb was one of the first to sign a Declaration with Kiev to support Ukraine's European perspective and systematically supports our integration into the EU and NATO. Croatia clearly supported the creation of the "Crimean Platform". Croatia's invaluable experience in the reintegration of liberated territories is important to us.
That is why Ukraine is interested in a stable Croatia and in maintaining support for our struggle.
But the position of President Milanovich, let's say cautiously, is surprising.
Some analysts directly say that his position towards Ukraine is openly hostile -arrogant and openly pro-Russian. And this is confirmed, for example, by his point of view about the inappropriateness of assistance to Ukraine.
For Milanovich, only Russia can ensure the stability of Europe and the EU. In addition, he also accused the UK of "inciting" Ukraine to confrontation with Russia.
Andrei Plenkovich was forced to apologize for such opuses of the president, for which he called him a "Ukrainian agent".
The answer was Plenkovich's visit to Ukraine on May eighth, during which he assured of Croatia's continued undisputed support for Ukraine. Despite Milanovich's position.
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And finally, the last question: why is he, Milanovich, like this?
This is the question many Croats ask themselves. Indeed, his strange statements and behavior, as a Croatian acquaintance told me, suggest: is everything all right with his psyche, perhaps he is taking some serious medications or something else?..
Journalists and political scientists usually name two probable reasons for Milanovich's behavior. One of them is the change of political views, when he began to drift sharply away from left–wing views towards populists of nationalist coloring.
Second version: they do not exclude influence on Milanovich from Moscow, which confirms his ties with Dodik and Serbian nationalists, who can be called agents of Russian influence in the Balkans.
The former Ambassador of Montenegro to NATO, now professor at Boston University Vesco Garcevic goes even further.
He explains Milanovich's strange position by his certain dependence on the money of Russian oligarchs investing in Croatia.
But there is another reason why Milanovich is offended by the whole world. And this is a personal rejection of Plenkovich.
At one time, they worked together in the Croatian Foreign Ministry and together were members of the elite "Boysclub", which opens a direct path to responsible positions in the Foreign Ministry and promotes a political career. But they ended up in different parties: Plenkovic – in the CDU, Milanovic – in the SDP.
It is difficult to find the roots of why, after one of the parliamentary elections, Milanovich took offense at Plenkovich. Something has happened. There are a lot of rumors, but these are only unconfirmed rumors, so let's not talk about them…
And by the way, in Croatia they often say: Plenkovic solves problems, Milanovic says it's bad.
Therefore, it is likely that Milanovich will continue to criticize Plenkovich for supporting Ukraine. And Croatia will still remain our friend and helper on the way to the EU.
