ZAGREB, January 8, 2019 – The Defence Ministry on Monday reacted to media claims that a ‘non-paper’ exists warning Croatia about the USA not approving the sale of Israeli F-16 fighter jets to Croatia.
“The Defence Ministry files the documents it receives, and it has filed documents and correspondence with country bidders in the procurement procedure for multi-purpose fighter jets,” the ministry said in a brief press release.
The Jutarnji List daily on Sunday claimed that the most senior state and military officials had “known at least a year ago about the USA’s stance and conditions regarding the sale of Israeli’s F-16 Barak fighter jets.”
“Back in January 2018, the American side sent a non-paper to Croatia’s senior officials in which it clearly noted all the obstacles to purchasing the Israeli jets. The news that the Croatian side, that is, the Office of the President, was informed of the problem was released on Friday by Velimir Bujanec on the Bujica current affairs programme. The American document arrived at the president’s office in January last year, a source close to the president confirmed to Jutarnji List,” the paper reported.
Ivana Crnić, a spokeswoman at President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović’s office, on Monday told Hina that the president never received any document that could lead to the conclusion that there was any problem in the procurement of the Israeli jets.
More news on the F-16 sale can be found in our Politics section.
