Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Gordan Grlić Radman appeared live in N1 Studio to discuss the Russia-Ukraine crisis.
“In light of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, we have been coordinating activities so that we could respond to repercussions that might affect Croatia and be resilient to whatever may come,” the minister said.
“Prime Minister Plenković announced that the government will pass a decision today to establish a group for accommodating refugees,” he said, adding:
“Speaking of gas supply, Croatian households can be at ease thanks to the government’s responsible decisions and the opening of LNG terminals.”
EU to send €450 million in military aid
Grlić Radman said that various councils have been meeting over the past few days, reaching important political decisions.
“That primarily includes blocking transactions with the Russian Central Bank, travel bans and assets freeze for additional 26 persons, as well as flight bans on all Russian airlines. There is also the EU Instrument contributing to Stability and Peace. In terms of military aid, the EU will send 450 million euros worth of arm supplies,” the minister underlined.
Croatia also needed military aid when it defended itself
“We will show solidarity however we can. Today we will adopt a proposal by the Ministry of Defence. We are sending the usual, in line with what the High Representative for Foreign Affairs has said. We are sending what every army needs to defend itself. Here we clearly have an aggressor on one side and Ukraine on the other, which is defending itself. Croatia also needed military aid when it was defending itself,” Grlić Radman said.
He added that out of a hundred embassies in Kyiv, only seven of them are still staffed, including the Croatian one.
We call on Croats to contact us, we will assist in evacuation
“There is still a number of Croats there and we cannot abandon Kyiv now. Our embassy is still there, as it should be, since Ukraine is our recipient country and we have recognized it,” the minister said, adding that out of 114 Croats, 35 to 50 have remained.
“We are trying to reach them. They are not obliged to respond, but we would like to know where they are. If they need anything at all, we will gladly assist in their evacuation,” he underscored.
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