Croatian leader Zoran Milanovic did not allow the deployment of his army to participate in NATO's security and training mission for Ukraine.
Points of attention
- The President of Croatia refused to send his army soldiers to the NATO mission for Ukraine.
- He began to assure that it could be dangerous for national interests.
- Despite this, Croatian leader Zoran Milanovych views Russia as an aggressor and continues to insist on humanitarian aid for Ukraine.
The President of Croatia is afraid of the spread of the war beyond the borders of Ukraine and the Russian Federation
It is important to understand that the Croatian government previously publicly called on Zoran Milanović to support the decision to send Croatian army servicemen to a mission to support Ukraine.
Government officials also drew attention to the fact that the implementation of this decision is within the competence of the president.
However, unexpectedly for everyone, the head of state decided "within the constitutional powers" not to give prior consent to the participation of military personnel in such a mission.
According to him, it allegedly "can potentially be harmful to national interests."
The Croatian government can now ask parliament to vote on the proposed solution, but approval requires the support of two-thirds of parliament members. In this case, the decision will enter into force and the president of Croatia promised to respect it.
What Milanovych says about the Russian Federation's war against Ukraine
The leader of Croatia has never hidden that he considers Russia to be an aggressor and Ukraine to be a victim of aggression.
In addition, he continues to insist on maintaining humanitarian aid for the Ukrainian people.
Unfortunately, despite the huge military aid that Ukraine receives, the end of the war is not in sight, but there is a threat of the war going beyond the borders of Ukraine. The task of the president of the republic ... is to protect Croatia from war and to take all measures to keep Croatia from military conflicts, the Croatian president's office said in a statement.
Milanovich's team also draws attention to the fact that the Russian invasion of Ukraine is not an attack on one of the NATO member states.
Given this fact, Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty cannot be activated, and Croatia has no international legal obligations.
