The arrest of an alleged "Croatian spy" in Belgrade is not in the focus of Croatian authorities, and we do not know who that person could be, Croatia's Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Gordan Grlic Radman said on Tuesday, Hina reported.
In a statement to reporters on the margins of a regular annual conference of Croatian diplomatic professionals, which took place in Zagreb, Grlic Radman said that the issue of “spies” is not the focus of the Croatian authorities, said Hina.
„I don’t know who is interested in that at this moment,“ Grlic Radman said regarding Serbian media reports that the Serbian Security Intelligence Agency (BIA) had arrested a Croatian spy in Belgrade, which has been confirmed by Serbian Internal Affairs Minister Ivica Dacic.
That same day, the Croatian Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs said it had no knowledge of the event or whether it “really happened,” Hina reported.
Grlic Radman reiterated Tuesday that it is not known who the person allegedly arrested in Belgrade is.
„We are seeing recycled information from last year, a name appears, but it is not linked to Croatia,“ Hina quoted him as saying.
Regarding the information that Croatian pop singer Severina Vuckovic was on Monday detained for several hours at the border with Serbia and interrogated by Serbia’s law enforcement authorities about various political topics, Grlic Radman said the Croatian authorities are concerned about the treatment of Severina in the same way they are concerned about the treatment of any other Croatian citizen and regardless of where in the world.
The Croatian minister said that even before this incident with Severina, he had discussed the issue of treatment at border crossings with his Serbian colleague Marko Djuric, with whom he is “in regular contact,” Hina reported.
“I discussed the issue and appealed that these incidents at the border do not occur again” because freedom of movement and free speech are European values and something that Serbia has also chosen to embrace as a candidate for membership in the European Union, said Grlic Radman.
“I was informed that they would ensure these incidents do not occur again,” the minister added.
