ZAGREB, April 9, 2019 – The Croatian government on Tuesday resolutely rejected all allegations by Ljubljana about reported attempts by Zagreb to influence the work of Slovenian media. The Andrej Plenkovič cabinet dismissed allegations that Ivan Tolj, the head of the Styria publishing company in Croatia, attempted to prevent the publication of a reportage on a “spying affair” on behalf of the Croatian government.
Slovenian media accused the Croatian Security and Intelligence Agency (SOA) of having wiretapped two Slovenian officials during a border arbitration process and claimed that Tolj was a government mediator in a bid to halt the publication of the reportage on the spy scandal by Slovenian media outlets.
The Croatian Security and Intelligence Agency (SOA) on Tuesday also dismissed reports published by the Slovenian 24ur media outlet as untrue and tendentious fabrications.
Slovenia media accused SOA of having wiretapped two Slovenian officials during a border arbitration process and claimed that Ivan Tolj, the head of the Styria publishing company in Croatia, had tried to prevent the publication of a reportage on the affair.
Following an inquiry from Hina, SOA says that it does not comment on media speculations and, responding to the inquiry, it stated that the articles published by 24ur were untrue and tendentious fabrications.
SOA perceives this as the continuation of a campaign by certain media outlets in Bosnia and Herzegovina which tried to discredit SOA and Croatia by disseminating false accusations about the attempted recruiting of Islamist extremists for arms smuggling through Bosnia and Herzegovina and unlawful activities which SOA allegedly conducted against neighbouring countries.
More news about relations between Croatia and Slovenia can be found in the Politics section.
