Dačić Attacks Plenković, Accuses Croatia of ‘Collaboration with Hitler’

Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dačić agreed on Tuesday with Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković that Croatia and Serbia are not the same, emphasizing that the difference is that Serbia was not on Hitler’s side during World War II and did not carry out the Holocaust.

Plenković earlier on Tuesday stated that Croatia and Serbia are “two worlds,” as it is impossible for a Croatian representative to desecrate the Serbian flag, as Serbian ultranationalist representative Vojislav Šešelj recently did with the Croatian flag in Belgrade.

“It is true that we are not equal; we were not on Hitler’s side, we did not carry out the Holocaust against Jews and Croats, we did not force Croats to wear insignia as Serbs and Jews had to wear during World War II – Jews wore yellow, and Serbs wore blue stripes,” Dačić replied to Plenković.

An additional difference is that “Serbia does not deny crimes, but punishes them,” believes the head of Serbian diplomacy.

“We are not the same because we think that what Croatia is doing is pure stupidity and that it is better to focus on developing our relations than to wage a diplomatic war. And Plenković knows all this, but he thinks it brings him political points. And that is sad,” Dačić told reporters during his visit to India.

>>> Plenković stated that Croatia does not use relations with Serbia for internal squabbles

He clarified his recent statement that Croatia, if it wants, can win a diplomatic war. “I was not talking about war, but about the diplomatic war that Croatia is provoking,” said the Serbian minister reacting to Plenković’s statement that it is not good to use the word “war” in the relations between Croatia and Serbia.

Diplomatic tensions between the two neighboring countries erupted when Serbian Defense Minister Aleksandar Vulin stated that his arrival in Croatia “can be decided by the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Serbia, Mr. Aleksandar Vučić, and Croatian ministers cannot decide on this at all.”

Official Zagreb banned him from entering Croatia due to this, and Belgrade reciprocated with the same measure, declaring Croatian Defense Minister Damir Krstičević an undesirable person in Serbia.

Plenković confirmed that he would talk with President Kolinda Grabar Kitarović during the week, but did not reveal whether the topic would be Serbia and the withdrawal of new measures in response to sanctions against Krstičević.