Serbia is tolerant enough to have PM with Croat roots - PM

Ana Brnabic says she "doesn't understand what is happening in Croatia" and what the neighboring country's leadership is up to.

The Serbian prime minister said this on Tuesday after Croatia's top officials reacted to the speech made by Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic over the weekend, during a commemoration in Backa Palanka, northern Serbia, on the anniversary of Croatia's 1995 offensive against ethnic Serbs, known as "Operation Storm."

"Quite honestly it's not clear to me what is happening in Croatia and what the Croatian state leadership is doing. I listened carefully to Vucic's speech and at no point did I hear anything problematic. It seems to me that Croatia's top state officials are trying to completely twist the truth and prove that black is white, and vice versa," said Brnabic.

The prime minister stressed that she "did not hear any fascist statements from Vucic" - but did hear them in Glina - a town in Croatia where the anniversary of "Operation Storm" was celebrated.

Responding to journalists, Brnabic remarked that her grandfather was a Croat, not a Serb from Croatia, and that despite that she has become the head of the Serbian government.

"It shows that Serbia is open enough and that it is possible in Serbia to have a prime minister whose grandfather was a Croat. Imagine having a head of government in Croatia who has anything to do with Serbia," Brnabic said.

The prime minister also pointed out that in Croatia, the goalkeeper of the country's national football team does not even dare to mention that he is of Serb origin.

Brnabic's comments came after the Croatian Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs assessed that comparing Croatia with the Nazi regime was "a fallacy."