Croatian President Zoran Milanović said on Thursday he was visiting Georgia to better understand a country that has been accused by some critics of pursuing a pro-Moscow political course, expressing solidarity with its territorial integrity and questioning pressure from Brussels.
Milanović is on a two-day official visit to Georgia at the invitation of President Mikheil Kavelashvili. During his stay in Tbilisi, he met with the Georgian leadership and is scheduled to attend a meeting of Croatian and Georgian business representatives.
“I came to see what kind of country this is that is being accused of some pro-Moscow political course,” Milanović said. “A state that does not even have diplomatic relations with Moscow being described as a Moscow agent is counterintuitive and difficult to understand.”
Georgia, which has faced ongoing tensions with Russia over the breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, has been seeking closer ties with the European Union.
Milanović said he wanted to express solidarity with Georgia in its efforts to preserve its territorial integrity and offered full support in that regard.
“Georgia has been in an unenviable position for years, and instead of taking that into account when evaluating its approach to the European Union, the country is being placed before impossible dilemmas in a very cynical way,” he said, criticizing what he described as “European bureaucracy.” He added that such positions do not speak in his name or on behalf of Croatia.
The Croatian president also noted that no EU leader had visited Georgia during 2025 and said he found it inappropriate that officials from some EU member states had attended opposition protests in Tbilisi.
“I am not taking the political side of either the government or the opposition here,” Milanović said. “But the idea of exerting pressure on a small and relatively isolated country in such a manner is unacceptable to me.”
On economic ties, Milanović said Georgia was experiencing solid economic growth and that Croatian companies were interested in opportunities in the Caucasus region. Representatives of several major Croatian firms, including Končar, Podravka, Kraš, Franck and Sano, are expected to attend a business meeting on Friday.
Following talks with President Kavelashvili, Milanović also met Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze and is scheduled to meet Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili. He will also lay a wreath at the Heroes’ Square memorial in Tbilisi.
“I wish you to peacefully complete your territorial integrity,” Milanović said in a message to his hosts, adding that Croatia sympathizes with Georgia’s challenges based on its own experience.