As Jutarnji list/Novac HR writes, Branko Roglic, one of the most well off Croats who owns a company that operates in about 20 countries across Europe, including Russia and Ukraine, was a recent guest on Dnevnik Nova TV.
“We have 50 people over in Ukraine. We have 150 people in Russia, as that’s a bigger company. At the moment we know that our employees have spoken out against the war and we paid those in Ukraine two salaries as soon as the Russian aggression against that country started, we also offered them relocation to Poland, to which they all said no and instead chose to remain in their homeland,” Branko Roglic said at the beginning of the conversation.
“At the moment, almost all distribution chains have been cut off and this will affect product prices in every country and when it comes to Russia… I don’t know how it will survive that,” Branko Roglic said.
The biggest price increase, he said, will be for food products. Last year, a 30 percent increase in inflation was announced, and now he thinks that figure will be even higher. “The government is currently between a rock and a hard place. It can’t help the economy much because it has to pay its own costs, it’s not easy. No one has experienced blows to the government like Prime Minister Plenkovic has,” Roglic commented.
He believes Putin will go on to ban exports to Europe. “They’ll certainly do that. We’re waiting for counter-sanctions. It isn’t easy for the European Union either. Russia cannot last long,” he said.
Russia’s bankruptcy is predicted by some to occur on April the 15th, when they must repay their first loan to international institutions. “It would be good to get rid of another dictator and get another democratic country that will be a partner for Europe,” Branko Roglic firmly believes.
“They thought they would just be able to walk easily through Ukraine and behave in such a way. That they would bring their man to the helm there – that didn’t happen. It turned out that the Ukrainians are a much stronger opponent than they could have ever expected. This is a great advantage and opportunity for Europe to unite. I think that the war should end with negotiations and that the Russians should return to the borders of their own country,” Branko Roglic added.
As for the question of the sensitivity of the Croatian economy to the ongoing war in Ukraine following Russia’s recent unjustified invasion, Roglic believes we’re very lucky to have Slavonia and the agricultural richness of that Easternmost part of the country.
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