NEW YORK, July 16,2018 (BSS/TASS). Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic
favors support for dialogue with Russia, she told the Associated Press agency
in an interview.
Grabar-Kitarovic favored cooperation with Moscow and opposed attempts to
isolate it. “We want to have a dialogue about common threats to our
security,” she said. “We have to work together.”
Speaking about the upcoming meeting between Russian President Vladimir
Putin and US President Donald Trump, Grabar-Kitarovic stated, “I’m really
hopeful that the two state leaders will show enough … responsibility for
global stability and the trans-Atlantic relationship.” She is confident that
relations between the US and Russia are of utmost importance, including for
the prevention of conflicts in the Balkan region.
Commenting on Trump’s criticism of some NATO member states for not spending
enough money, in his opinion, to support the joint defense of the Alliance,
the Croatian president noted, “It’s about his personality. I don’t take it
against him.”
“Certainly, it’s not fair that the United States is carrying the burden for
the defense of Europe,” Grabar-Kitarovic said. “We’re first and foremost
responsible for our own security,” the Croatian president added.
“Sports brings people together,” Grabar-Kitarovic noted. “People in all of
our countries are tired of ideological differences, of going back into the
past all the time,” she said.