The rhetoric of countries bordering Croatia, which are not members of the European Union or NATO and do not want to be, is "disturbing".
So, as they report Croatian media, reports the Telegraph, said in Zagreb, Croatian Defense Minister Ivan Anusic, emphasizing Serbia, which he said now has serious "offensive systems".
"The constant rhetoric from these countries is worrying. According to the information we have, Serbia currently has serious attack systems that are extremely complex, expensive and have been in the process of purchasing for four, five or six years," Anusic was quoted as saying at a conference on the European defense industry in Zagreb.
As Croatian media recall, the only two countries bordering Croatia that are not members of the EU or NATO are Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
According to them, official Belgrade still intends to continue purchasing weapons "which could be extremely dangerous if used," Anusic added at the conference "A New Era of European Security: Strategy, Joint Investments and Industry" organized by the European Parliament Office in Croatia.
According to Croatian media, Serbia is reinstating military conscription, President Aleksandar Vučić announced in late January, saying he was concerned about the alleged formation of military alliances against Serbia, apparently alluding to military cooperation between Croatia, Albania and Kosovo.
He added that the defensive capabilities of the air force and air defense have increased "drastically and dramatically."
Anusic admitted that he "does not know what motives lie behind this process of arming Serbia" and that he does not want to speculate, but that according to him, "the issue of defense should not be seen as something that is not necessary because we can rely on the defense of a third country."
"We must prepare to defend our borders, our living space and our people."
Likewise, according to the Croatian media outlet, Europe needs to urgently change the way it operates when it comes to defense and security, because so far it has invested in civilian infrastructure, civil society development, agriculture and the economy, or everything not directly related to defense, Anusic believes.
According to him, Europe must also address the issue of defense, and especially the defense of its eastern borders, as a unified whole, adding that it is too late to do so.
"(All countries on the eastern borders of) the EU or NATO should have special treatment in financing weapons and equipment, because they could be the next countries to be targeted and perhaps tested (to see) how ready NATO is to defend its borders," Anusic further said.
He explained that he was referring mainly to the Baltic countries, Finland and Romania, but also to Croatia, which borders countries to the southeast that are not in NATO and do not want to be.
He admitted that his speech might seem "very dark", but argued that if the discussions had been held like this in 2014, when the first signs of today's problems appeared, namely the Russian annexation of Crimea, "we would not have had even one percent of these concerns that we have today". /Telegrafi/
