Croatian President: Glory to Ukraine is “the slogan of chauvinists who killed Jews and Poles”
Zoran Milanovic, known for his pro-Russian views, said he did not want to hear the slogans “Glory to Ukraine” in Croatia.
Croatian President Zoran Milanovic equated the Ukrainian slogan “Glory to Ukraine!” to the cry “Ready for the house”, which was used by the extreme right-wing radical group of the Croatian Ustaše during the Second World War.
This Milanovic said after the ceremony of presenting public awards of the city of Zagreb, writes the Croatian edition N1.
“I’m fighting like Jesus to reject such slogans as ‘Ready for the home’. If you don’t understand this, I can’t re-educate you. But there is no difference between ‘Ready for the home’ and ‘Glory to Ukraine.’ This is the cry of the most radical chauvinists of Western Ukraine, who collaborated with the Nazis and killed thousands of Jews, Poles … “, Milanovich said.
The President of Croatia, known for his pro-Russian views, stressed that he does not want to hear the slogans “Glory to Ukraine” in Croatia.
“I don’t want to hear this in Croatia. I’m not interested in the fact that some leaders are hooked on this. Let them come up with a different greeting. Let them remove Russia and Ukraine. Kiev is far away, Moscow is even further,” Milanovic said.
Zelensky answered Milanovich
Advisor to the head of the Office of the President Mikhail Podolyak gave him some advice on the next anti-Ukrainian attacks of the Croatian president.
“There is no need to live with the infantile myths of Russian propaganda: today it is already meaningless… There is no need to be afraid of the right story: it makes us strong… There is no need to ask the brave people who are fighting in Ukraine for their freedom and their families to surrender if they not ready to defend his own land: it’s just shameful. And yes… Glory to the Heroes! Always…” wrote Podolyak
Glory to Ukraine – what is known about the slogan
The very expression “Glory to Ukraine” has been used at least since the time of Taras Shevchenko. The slogan “Glory to Ukraine” and the answer “Glory all over the Earth” has existed since at least the 19th century and was used among the Kharkiv Ukrainian student community.
The slogan became widespread in the army of the Ukrainian People’s Republic of the early twentieth century, and later became the slogan of Ukrainian nationalists and fighters for the independence of Ukraine. After the Second World War, it was preserved among the inhabitants of the west of Ukraine, and throughout the country it began to be actively used already with the restoration of Independence, gaining particular popularity after the Russian invasion in 2014.
Anti-Ukrainian statements of the President of Croatia
As UNIAN reported, at the end of January 2023, Croatian President Zoran Milanovic announced that the Crimea occupied by Russia would never again be Ukrainian territory. He believes that Russia will not give up Crimea even if it loses the war. Milanovic compared Crimea to Kosovo, noting that the international community “annexed Kosovo”, allegedly taking it away from Serbia.
In response, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine called unacceptable the statements of the Croatian President, who actually called into question the territorial integrity of Ukraine. The Foreign Ministry also thanked the Croatian government and the Croatian people for their unwavering support of Ukrainians in the fight against Russian aggression.
A month before the start of the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation, Milanovich said that Ukraine had no place in NATO, and in the event of a Russian offensive, Zagreb would distance itself as much as possible from the events and withdraw all the military from the region. He also called the Revolution of Dignity in Ukraine a “coup”.