Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic on Wednesday received Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who was on a mini tour of the region marking the 25th anniversary of the Dayton peace accords.
Lavrov stopped over in Zagreb to open the new building housing the Embassy of the Russian Federation.
Plenkovic appeared in public for the first time after recovering from the coronavirus infection.
According to a press release issued by his office, the meeting reaffirmed good bilateral political and economic relations between the two countries.
Plenkovic and Lavrov exchanged views on the situation in southeast Europe, global issues and the further fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. They stressed the importance of tourism in Croatian-Russian relations, which is expected to get a boost after the pandemic ends.
They also expressed a mutual desire to continue bilateral dialogue.
Plenkovic invited his Russian counterpart Mikhail Mishustin to visit Croatia.
Earlier in the day, Lavrov and his Croatian counterpart, Gordan Grlic Radman, also highlighted tourism as an area with potential to expand cooperation. They announced reactivation of the intergovernmental commission on trade, economic, scientific and technical cooperation.
Lavrov arrived in Zagreb as part of his mini tour that included Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia. At the end of his visit in the Croatian capital city, the minister formally opened the new Russian Embassy building. The Croatian Embassy in Moscow has already moved into a new building.
Speaking earlier on Wednesday, Lavrov said he was willing to answer any questions raised, including those concerning Moscow’s reaction to Plenkovic’s visit to Ukraine four years ago, when he had offered Croatia’s experience with the peaceful integration of the Croatian Danube region as the best model for the reintegration of Donetsk and Luhansk into Ukraine, as well as for the reintegration of the Crimea, which has been annexed by Russia.
Croatia’s position is well known, and the issue of eastern Ukraine will be dealt with by respecting the Minsk agreement and the UN Security Council resolutions, Lavrov said.
