Croatian President Zoran Milanovic on Sunday said the US and NATO are waging a proxy war against Russia and criticized the Western sanctions campaign against Moscow, offering rare criticism of the policy from a leader of a NATO country.
“Washington and NATO are waging a proxy war against Russia with the help of Ukraine,” Milanovic said, according to Croatia’s HINA news agency.
“The plan cannot be to remove Russian President Vladimir Putin. The plan cannot be in sanctions. Sanctions are absurd, we will not achieve anything with their help,” he said. “They did not even break Slobodan Milosevic with sanctions. They go from war to war. And what am I supposed to be, a slave of America?”
Milanovic has spoken out against the US and NATO policy in Ukraine and rejected an EU plan to have Croatia help train Ukrainian troops. Milanovic is not alone in his opposition, as the proposal to train Ukrainian soldiers failed to gain the two-thirds majority it needed in Croatia’s parliament.
Explaining his opposition to training Ukrainian troops, Milanovic said he didn’t want to get his country involved in the war. “I do not support this idea because I do not want Croatia to be involved in this war more than is necessary. We are showing fairness and solidarity, and that’s it,” he said.
