Minister of Foreign Affairs Nikola Selakovic said on the occasion of the Croatian authorities' decision to ban the visit of President Aleksandar Vucic to the WWII Jasenovac memorial that the ministry sent a note to the Croatian Embassy in Belgrade, which the chargé d'affaires refused to receive. Selakovic assessed this as a "terrifying decision" of the Croatian government, adding that the Serbian government will make a decision on the countermeasures.

„The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia is shocked by the illegal, anti-European and anti-civilization decision of the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of the Republic of Croatia, which, based on the arbitrarily expressed will of the Croatian authorities and a gross violation of the principle of freedom of movement, prohibits the arrival of the President of Serbia in Jasenovac, the place where hundreds of thousands of people suffered innocent victims of Serbian, Jewish, Roma and other nationalities,“ Selakovic said.

The minister also said that the President’s intention was only to lay flowers and light a candle.

Serbian Interior Minister Aleksandar Vulin noted that „as of today, all officials of the Croatian state, all holders of official or diplomatic passports will have to separately announce and justify their visit or passage through Serbia and will be placed under a special regime of control.“

According to the Interior Ministry’s statement, Vulin also said that this will be the case as long as he is the minister of police, or „until Croatia starts behaving as if it is not the NDH (WWII Nazi-puppet state).

In a written statement, in which he called the government of the Croatian Prime Minister „Ustasha“, Vulin stated that „Aleksandr Vucic, the grandson of the Jasenovac victim, is not allowed to pay tribute to the memory of hundreds of thousands of slaughtered Serbs, Jews and Roma.“

Minister of Mining and Energy Zorana Mihajlovic called off her official visit to Zagreb due to Croatia’s decision not to allow Serbian President to visit Jasenovac privately, her cabinet announced today.

„Instead of showing respect for all the victims and looking for ways to build a better future together, as Serbia is doing, with such moves we are only going back to the past and preventing the improvement of relations between the two countries in areas where there is a real need to cooperate,“ said Mihajlović.