It seems that the president of Croatia has lost part of his Army. It's not that those soldiers have died: it's that he doesn't know where they are.<\/p>\n
Zoran Milanovi\u0107 distances from NATO and says he will withdraw his troops from the area<\/big><\/p>\n This Tuesday, president Zoran Milanovi\u0107 openly distanced from NATO<\/a>, an organization his country joined on April 1, 2009. \"As Commander-in-Chief of the Croatian Army<\/strong>, I have been closely following statements indicating that NATO, not a country, not the United States, is increasing its presence and sending some reconnaissance ships. We don't have and won't have anything to do with it, I guarantee it.<\/strong>\"<\/em><\/p>\n Milanovi\u0107 did not stop there, but added: \"Croatia will not send troops in the event of an escalation. On the contrary, she will call up all the troops, down to the last Croatian soldier<\/strong> and it has nothing to do with Ukraine, or Russia, it has to do with the dynamics of US domestic politics.\"<\/em><\/p>\n The Milanovi\u0107 party was founded from the League of Communists of Croatia<\/big><\/p>\n These statements by the Croatian president are not at all strange. Milanovi\u0107 belongs to the Social Democratic Party of Croatia<\/strong>, a party founded in 1990 from the League of Communists of Croatia<\/a>, the Croatian branch of the former single party of the communist dictatorship of Yugoslavia.<\/p>\n A socialist president very close to Russia<\/big><\/p>\n On the other hand, in 2020 the Croatian outlet Sloboda pointed out Milanovi\u0107's affinity with Russia and his ties to the powerful Russian state company Gazprom<\/a>, which began doing business in Croatia in 2013<\/a>, when Milanovi\u0107 was the country's prime minister (2011-2016). His government was then characterized as very close to Russia.<\/strong> Last year, Radio Sarajevo spoke of \"president Milanovi\u0107's debts to Russian politics, which indirectly contributed to the financing of his campaign\"<\/em><\/a> for the presidency.<\/p>\n The Croatian government distances from Milanovi\u0107's statements<\/big><\/p>\n The Croatian president's statements about Ukraine have led him into a confrontation (one more, since it has become commonplace) with the center-right government headed by Andrej Plenkovi\u0107. Let's keep in mind that Croatia is a parliamentary republic, like Germany or Austria, and there the president has a rather symbolic role<\/strong>, compared to countries like the US or France. Yesterday Plenkovi\u0107 replied to Milanovi\u0107: \"There are not our soldiers in Ukraine and I do not know what soldiers he is thinking of.\"<\/em><\/a> The prime minister added: \"I apologise to the Ukrainians on behalf of the government,\"<\/em> and recalled that \"Croatia's policy is to de-escalate tensions, prevent conflicts, support the integrity of Ukraine.<\/strong> That is our fundamental position.\"<\/em><\/p>\n There are no Croatian soldiers in Ukraine, Poland or Lithuania<\/big><\/p>\n The fact is that not only are there no Croatian soldiers in Ukraine, but they are no longer in other neighboring countries either. Croatia has had soldiers deployed in two of<\/strong> NATO's eFP Battle Groups<\/a>, those in Poland and Lithuania. A few days ago, the Croatian detachment in Poland returned to their country.<\/strong> The official account of the Polish eFP Battle Group published a farewell message stating: \"Soon we will be welcoming a new Croatian contingent.\"<\/em> But for now that contingent has not yet been deployed.<\/p>\n \ud83c\udded\ud83c\uddf7 You can't take the Storm out of the Battery but you can take the Battery out of the storm. \ud83c\udf28\ufe0f<\/p>\n Today we said goodbye to Storm Battery, the 8th Croatian contingent and their semi-propelled rocket launchers, M-92 Vulkan. Soon we will be welcoming a new Croatian contingent. pic.twitter.com\/oqZJFfF9ty<\/a><\/p>\n — NATO eFP BG Poland (@BG_Poland_eFP) January 21, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
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