ZAGREB, May 8, 2020 – Prime Minister Andrej Plenković accepted Defence Minister Damir Krstičević’s resignation on Friday, after a military plane crashed on Thursday killing two Croatian army pilots, saying that he did not make that decision because he believed Krstičević was responsible but rather because he respected him.
“Personally, I don’t see any reason how I could in any way connect his political responsibility with the fact that that plane crashed, however, I understood from our talks that this situation has affected him personally,” Plenković said after a four-hour meeting with Krstičević in Government House.
Plenković explained that he accepted minister’s resignation because he respects him as a man and friend and not because he believes that Krstičević is responsible for anything.
“Accidents like this unfortunately occur. I am sorry that it affected him so much that he asked to be allowed to take a break from his duty in the government. I will not propose a new defence minister and one of the ministry’s state secretaries will be acting as defence minister for the time being,” said Plenković.
He added that Krstičević had informed him of the circumstances of the crash of a military trainer aircraft near Zadar in which two Air Force members were killed.
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