Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović stated on Friday that she will not offer solutions for the struggling Croatian concern Agrokor, whose major creditors are Russian banks, but will help connect people from Croatia and Russia to eliminate the “noise in the communication channel”.
During her visit to Russia this week, Grabar-Kitarović expressed that she would not want Agrokor to burden the relations between Croatia and Russia and that she is ready to mediate between Sberbank and Croatian institutions dealing with the issue of this concern.
>>> Gref welcomed the conversation with the president, ‘we are all faced with 7 years of falsified reports’
“I do not delude myself that I can personally resolve anything. However, I see that there is noise in the communication channel, that some things are not clear from either the Russian or Croatian side, and that is why I offered to connect the people who are resolving this,” President Grabar-Kitarović stated in an interview for HRT.
“I will not offer solutions because I am neither authorized nor competent for that, but I can help in resolving this issue by connecting people, conveying messages if necessary,” she added.
Sberbank CEO German Gref stated on Thursday that the behavior of the Croatian government in the Agrokor case, an insolvent concern that has allegedly falsified its financial reports for seven years, undermines the rights of creditors and said that he discussed Agrokor’s debt to Sberbank with Grabar-Kitarović as well.
>>> President: I am ready to mediate between Sberbank and Croatian institutions
Gref emphasized that Sberbank wants to achieve a full mutual understanding with the Croatian government regarding Agrokor’s debt, but that the measures taken so far by the Croatian government seriously jeopardize the rights of creditors, including Sberbank.
Grabar-Kitarović reiterated in the interview that the Three Seas Initiative, which she presented to Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, is not directed against Russia.
“I wanted to clarify this, and the best way is to give someone projects to see what kind of initiative it is – the construction of transport, energy, and digital infrastructure,” the president said, speaking about the informal platform of twelve, mostly eastern EU members, supported by the USA.
When asked whether the USA, the Baltic countries, and Poland, which have poor relations with Russia, share her stance, she emphasized that this is not a “strict initiative” in which members must agree on some policy.
>>> Putin revealed a ‘little secret’: Russia can gasify entire Croatian regions
“If some countries do not find cooperation with Russia in terms of capital investment suitable, they do not have to choose Russian contractors in public tenders,” Grabar-Kitarović said.
She emphasizes that Croatia shares the policies of the EU and NATO, but cannot ignore Russia’s role in Southeast Europe, especially in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia.
“It is very important to me that there is strong support for the sovereignty, territorial integrity, and constitutional equality of all three peoples in Bosnia and Herzegovina and that Russia encourages Croatia and Serbia to approach the resolution of open issues,” Grabar-Kitarović emphasized.
