Disagreement Between Croatian President and Prime Minister Over Ukraine Crisis

President "Military Withdrawal if Situation Worsens"
Prime Minister "Our Troops Will Not Stay"

[Asia Economy Reporter Ki Ha-young] Controversy has arisen as the President and Prime Minister of Croatia made conflicting statements regarding Ukraine's military crisis. In Croatia, the president is responsible for defense and foreign affairs, but most of the actual power is held by the prime minister.

According to Croatia's HINA news agency on the 26th (local time), President Zoran Milanovi? criticized Ukraine the day before as "one of the most corrupt countries in the world." He added, "Croatia has nothing to do with the Ukraine situation," and said, "If the situation worsens, we will withdraw every last soldier."

In response, Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovi? stated, "On behalf of the Croatian government, I apologize to the people of Ukraine and Ukraine itself," and clarified, "As far as I know, there are no Croatian soldiers in Ukraine." He also pointed out regarding President Milanovi?'s remarks, "At first, I thought it was a statement from a Russian official."

Minister of Defense Mario Bano?i? also stated that currently there are no Croatian soldiers stationed in Ukraine, and only four officers have been dispatched to nearby Poland. He reminded that Croatia, as a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), has certain obligations and criticized, "Handling foreign policy in this manner is very irresponsible."

Meanwhile, President Milanovi? is a centrist-left politician, while Prime Minister Plenkovi? leads the right-wing party Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ).