OUR CrimeaThe Black Sea peninsula, annexed by Russia in 2014, will never again be part of Ukrainianits president said today Croatia Zoran Milanovic, analyzing his objections to the provision of military assistance from Zagreb to Kyiv.

In December, Croatia’s parliament rejected a proposal to join the European Union’s mission to support the Ukrainian military, signaling deep divisions between President Milanović and Prime Minister Andrej Plenković.

A staunch critic of Western policy towards Ukraine, Milanovic stressed that he does not want his country, a new EU member, to face the potentially devastating consequences of the war in Ukraine.

What the West is doing to Ukraine is “deeply immoral because there is no solution (war),” Milanovic told reporters during a visit to the barracks in the eastern city of Petrinia, referring to the West’s military support for Kyiv.

He added that the arrival of German tanks in Ukraine would only bring Russia closer to China.

“It is clear that Crimea will never again become part of Ukraine,” the Croatian president said.

“Two Standards and Two Standards” from Western countries

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has vowed to restore Ukrainian sovereignty over Crimea, which was seized and annexed by Russia in 2014, in a move not recognized by most countries.

Moscow claims that the referendum held after the capture of the peninsula by Russian troops showed that the inhabitants of the peninsula really want to be part of Russia. The referendum is not recognized by most countries.

Milanovic has criticized Western countries for double standards in international politics, saying that Russia will cite what he called the “annexation of Kosovo” by the international community as a justification for taking over parts of Ukraine.

The Croatian president was referring to Kosovo’s declaration of independence in 2008 after the 1998-1999 war, when NATO bombed Yugoslavia, which included Serbia and Montenegro, to protect Albanian-majority Kosovo.

“We recognized Kosovo against the will of the state (Serbia) that owned Kosovo,” he said, warning that he was not questioning Kosovo’s independence, but the concept of two steps away from the West.

Milanovic, Croatia’s former Social Democratic Party (SDP) prime minister, has taken an anti-European stance since taking up the largely ceremonial presidency, aligning his policies with those of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and the leader of the Bosnian Serbs. Milorad Dodik.

^{Source: APE-MEB, Reuters}