Croatian FM's claims about reciprocal measures untrue - Serbian MFA

BELGRADE - The Serbian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday dismissed as untrue claims by Croatia's FM Gordan Grlic Radman and the country's foreign ministry that Zagreb's decision to declare a consul at the Serbian embassy in Croatia a persona non grata was a reciprocal measure.

In an official statement, it urged the Croatian ministry to invest additional efforts to improve the deteriorated relations between the two countries, rather than to further undermine good-neighbourly relations and regional peace and stability through its moves.

The MFA said the Serbian consul had at no time breached the provisions of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations through his activities and had not been posted to Zagreb to deal with political, but consular affairs.

"Also, we would hereby like to point out that the Serbian consul took office in mid-September 2023, and we demand that the Croatian side present evidence to us and inform the public how he could have breached the provisions of the Vienna Convention within two months of taking office," the statement said.

The MFA rejected the reasons cited by the Croatian side and said the case could not be a matter of reciprocity, but a matter of whether someone had violated the Vienna Convention or not.

"In the case of Serbian consul Petar Novakovic, there is no evidence, while the case of Croatian diplomat Hrvoje Snajder pertains to proven actions that represent a gross violation of the Vienna Convention, of which the Croatian side has been informed," the statement said.

Zagreb's move comes a day after the Serbian MFA declared Snajder a persona non grata.