Croatian Minister of Defence called Hungary pro-Russian, Szijjártó summoned Croatian ambassador in response

Croatia's ambassador to Hungary was summoned to the Foreign Ministry on Friday over recent statements by Croatian Defence Minister Ivan Anušić.

According to ATV, the background to the row is that Croatian President Zoran Milanović did not agree to his government's proposal to have Croatia send troops to Germany for a NATO mission in support of Ukraine. Croatian Defence Minister Ivan Anušić told a committee meeting of the Croatian parliament that this would make Croatia similar to Hungary, which is questioning Ukraine's territorial integrity. Two days later, he also said that by not committing to a military role in the NATO mission,

Croatia would become like Serbia and Hungary, which openly support Russia.

At a press conference on Friday, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Péter Szijjártó said that Hungary was pursuing the best possible relationship with all its neighbours, including Croatia. "This is why it was unexpected to see the Croatian defence minister appear to have chosen a new sport, which would be to insult Hungarians. There was no prelude to this whatsoever, which is why we let the minister's first comment slide, but I refused to do the same with the second one," the Foreign Minister said, according to MTI.

"I respectfully ask the Croatian government not to drag us into their evidently heated domestic policy disputes with their President," he continued, adding that Hungary had nothing to do with the dispute between the Croatian government and the Croatian head of state. "They should settle this between themselves and should not insult Hungary under the guise of this in the future. I believe that our bilateral relations do not justify them dragging us into this dispute."

According to the ministry's statement, Croatian Ambassador Mladen Andrlić was received by the Deputy State Secretary for the region at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.