Russia expresses concern over cooperation between Ukraine and Croatia on return of occupied territories
Russia is concerned about contact between officials from Ukraine and Croatia regarding the issue of the return of occupied territories, as stated in a commentary by the Department of Information and Press of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) regarding a recent visit to Ukraine by a Croatian delegation headed by Vesna Škare-Ožbolt, who led the process of the peaceful reintegration of the Croatian Danube region.
"Judging by the information available in the media, the subject of ‘returning uncontrolled territories’ on the basis of the Croatian experience of the 1990s was discussed at these meetings. The ‘experience’ is more than controversial, and to speak bluntly - negative," the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
Russian diplomats recall "about 250 thousand Serbian refugees" and "numerous victims among the civilian population", which “resulted from military operations carried out by Zagreb in 1995.”
"We regretfully must state that behind the screen of assurances about ‘good intentions’ and ‘the need to restore mutual trust’ in the conflict zones, dangerous theses about the ‘compulsion’ and ‘admissibility’ of such ‘methods of peaceful reintegration’ sound once more. Of considerable concern is the fact that Kyiv is eager to pick up such signals, demonstratively ignoring its own clearly stated obligations within the framework of the Minsk ‘Set of Measures’, “ said the Russian MFA.
On June 13, Ukraine and Croatia signed a cooperation plan for a joint working group on collaboration regarding the issue of reintegration of territories.
The plan defines priority tasks for 2017, among which is the study of the Croatian side's experience on the reintegration of the occupied territories and the return of refugees, restoring public confidence and restoring infrastructure, attracting international assistance, and social security for reintegrated territories.