MOSCOW, January 18. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Wednesday he viewed as ‘honest’ Croatian President Zoran Milanovic’s recent statement that NATO is engaged in proxy war against Russia.

"Just recently Croatian President Milanovic said that it is NATO’s war against Russia. It is a straightforward and honest statement," Lavrov said speaking at his annual press conference on the results of Russian diplomacy in 2022.

Addressing a news conference in the country’s eastern city of Vukovar on January 16, Croatian President Milanovic said that the United States and NATO were engaged in proxy warfare against Russia using the territory of Ukraine. "Washington and NATO are waging a proxy war against Russia with the help of Ukraine," Croatia’s news agency HINA quoted Milanovic as saying.

Earlier, the Croatian parliament did not support the government’s proposal to provide the Ukrainian military with the opportunity to train in the republic.

Milanovic also spoke earlier in the year against the training of Ukrainian servicemen on the Croatian territory. According to him, the military training of Ukrainian servicemen in EU countries posed dangerous consequences.