Hungary’s foreign ministry has summoned Croatia’s ambassador to Budapest over recent comments made by Ivan Anusic, Croatia’s defence minister.
Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said in response to a question at a joint press conference with his Cuban counterpart on Friday that Hungary strives for the best possible relations with all of its neighbours, including Croatia.
“And this is why it’s unexpected that the Croatian defence minister appears to have chosen a new sports discipline, which is insulting Hungarians,” Szijjártó said, according to a ministry statement. “There was no antecedent to this, which was why we ignored the minister’s first remark, but I refused to ignore the second one.”
“I respectfully ask the Croatian government not to drag us into their domestic political debates with their president,” he added.
“We have nothing to do with the debate between the Croatian government and president; they should settle this among themselves and shouldn’t insult Hungary under the guise of this debate in the future,” the minister said. “I don’t think our bilateral relations warrant them involving us in this debate.”
Szijjártó referred to Croatian President Zoran Milanovic’s refusal to approve a government proposal for Croatia to participate in a coordinated security assistance and training plan for Ukraine that was approved at this year’s NATO summit.
Ivan Anusic, the defence minister, then said at a committee meeting that Croatia’s refusal to back the plan would make it “similar to Hungary”. Two days later he said that Croatia opting out of a military role would put it on the side of Serbia and Hungary “which openly support Russia”.
Croatian Ambassador Mladen Andrlic was received at the ministry by the deputy state secretary responsible for the region.
According to 444.hu, Ivan Anusic mentioned Hungary during a parliamentary debate. He said Hungary questioned Croatia’s territorial integrity. That is why we do not participate in the NATO Security Assistance and Training for Ukraine programme. He added Hungary and Serbia openly supported Putin, and Croatia should not be similar to Hungary.
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