MOSCOW, January 16. /TASS/. The United States and NATO are engaged in proxy warfare against Russia on the territory of Ukraine, Croatian President Zoran Milanovic said addressing a news conference in the country’s eastern city of Vukovar.
"Washington and NATO are waging a proxy war against Russia with the help of Ukraine," Croatia’s news agency HINA quoted Milanovic as saying.
The Croatian president also said he saw no sense in the introduction of sanctions against Moscow.
"The plan should not be about removing [Russian President Vladimir] Putin. The plan should not be about sanctions. Sanctions are absurd and we can achieve nothing using them," Milanovic continued.
"They could not even overpower [Slobodan] Milosevic… They are shifting from one war to another. But how should I feel - a slave of America?" the Croatian president said.
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 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.
Russia’s special military operation
On February 21, 2022, President Vladimir Putin announced that Moscow was recognizing the sovereignty of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics DPR and LPR respectively). Russia signed agreements on friendship, cooperation and mutual assistance with their leaders. Moscow recognized the Donbass republics in accordance with the DPR and LPR constitutions within the boundaries of the Donetsk and Lugansk Regions as of the beginning of 2014.
Russian President Putin announced on February 24, 2022 that in response to a request by the heads of the Donbass republics for assistance, he had decided to carry out a special military operation in Ukraine. The DPR and the LPR launched an operation to liberate their territories under Kiev’s control.
From September 23 to September 27, 2022, the Donetsk People’s Republic and the Lugansk People’s Republic as well as the Kherson Region and the Zaporozhye Region held a referendum where the majority of voters opted to join Russia.
On September 30, 2022, Russian President Putin and the heads of the DPR, the LPR, and the Zaporozhye and Kherson Regions signed treaties on their accession to Russia. Later, the State Duma and the Federation Council (the lower and upper houses of Russia’s parliament) approved legislation on ratifying these treaties, as well as federal constitutional laws on the accession of the four regions to Russia.