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In the midst of the crisis in Ukraine, Croatia is making a military maneuver that has taken many by surprise: a confusing operation that pitted the country’s president, Zoran Milanovic, and Foreign Minister Gordan Grlic-Radman against each other. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Milanovic said the country would withdraw its troops from NATO forces in Eastern Europe if there was an escalation of tensions with Russia over Ukraine. The former Social Democrat leader’s claim was strongly opposed by Grli\u0107-Radman, a member of Croatia’s right-wing government. It turns out that Croatian forces in Poland have already returned home at the end of a routine deployment – as evidenced on the website of the Croatian Ministry of Defense.<\/p>\n
The NATO combat group in Poland wrote on Twitter a few days ago that it would “soon” welcome a new Croatian contingent. But the Croatian newspaper Jutarnji List later reported that the country was not scheduled to send a new unit this year – so there will be no troops to withdraw if Russian invasion of Ukraine occurs in the coming weeks or months. Milanovic has a tough relationship with the center-right government of Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic and has clashed repeatedly with its members.<\/p>\n
His stance also caused confusion over the fact that although the president serves as the army’s commander-in-chief, relations with NATO are handled by the defense ministry, with parliamentary approval. According to some local media reports, MilanoviN openly stated during a visit to a factory that Croatia would not be involved in the crisis between Russia and Ukraine.<\/p>\n
“Croatia will not send troops in case of escalation. “On the contrary, it will withdraw all troops, down to the last Croatian soldier,” he said.<\/p>\n
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