Croatia paid Ratko Mladić 9 million German marks in July '93 alone!

- Throughout the war, from 1992 onwards, General Ratko Mladić met with Croatian generals, negotiating ceasefires, arms and oil supplies, and a joint fight against Bosniaks. Part of Ratko Mladić's diary was published by the Hague prosecution to be used as evidence against Jadranko Prlić, Slobodan Praljak and other leaders of Herceg-Bosna who are on trial in The Hague, reports the Patria News Agency.

In his diary, General Mladić left notes from meetings with Praljak, Prlić, Ante Rosa, Milivoje Petković, and others, mostly in Pécs, Hungary, or Njivice, Montenegro.

Croatian Minister of Finance Jozo Martinović participated in one of the meetings in February 1994. He was the Minister of Finance in Franjo Gregurić's Government from August 1992. Through Jozo Martinović, Herceg-Bosna was financed even after he moved from the Government to Privredna banka in August 1992. Along with Gojko Šušak and Hrvoje Šarinić, he was a signatory of accounts in Austria and a member of the Management Board of RH Alan, through which weapons were purchased.

The financially most demanding meeting was the one on July 8, 1993, with Milivoje Petković in Njivice, during the conflict between Croats and Bosniaks. Until the end of July 1993, Petković was the Chief of the General Staff of the HVO, and was then replaced by Praljak. Mladić recorded that in exchange for weapons and "favors rendered," 1,191,246 then-German marks and two tankers of diesel were deposited.

It was agreed that the Croats would pay 8,092,032 marks within seven days. All this money came, of course, from Croatia, as the HVO was financed directly from Zagreb at that time.

The first meeting highlighted by the Hague prosecution was on October 5, 1992, when Mladić met with a delegation from Croatia and Herceg-Bosna in Pécs.

Slobodan Praljak, who was Gojko Šušak's assistant from March 1992 to July 1993, was the representative of Croatia. In July 1993, he became commander of the HVO. Praljak asked Mladić to stop Serbian forces from shelling Slavonski Brod. Croats from Jajce would provide electricity to the Serbs, and in return, they would supply them with water. Praljak (if the diary entries are to be believed) proposed a cessation of hostilities to Mladić.

He explained to him that it was not in the Croats' interest to wage war with the Serbs, that the war would end with an agreement between Croats and Serbs, and that the real danger were the Muslims.

"Our goal is Banovina from 1939; if we don't achieve it, we will continue the war," Mladić recorded Praljak's words.
He assured Mladić that the agreement between Tuđman and Izetbegović was only formal, made at the insistence of the Americans to appease the Islamic world. The last note from that meeting were Praljak's words: "Croats from Vojvodina should be expelled."

At another meeting, after the fall of Posavina on October 26, 1992, Praljak said:

"We are on the right track to force Alija to divide Bosnia. We will force Alija to sit down at the table with Boban and Karadžić. It is in our interest for the Muslims to get their own canton so they have somewhere to emigrate to."

At that meeting, it was agreed that a meeting between Janko Bobetko and Božidar Vučurević would be held regarding the HV line near Trebinje.

The following year, in July 1993, when the conflict with the Muslims was already raging, Mladić was at a meeting with Milošević in Belgrade. Milošević told him that they should not give too much support to the Croats.

Karadžić was also at the meeting, saying that they should help the Croats to force the Muslims to divide Bosnia. However, Karadžić warned that if the Croats attacked the RSK, Serbs from Bosnia must send two corps to help Martić. Milošević explained: "I wouldn't go for dividing the Muslims into two autonomies. We offered them to the Croats, and Tuđman said, you take them," writes Jutarnji list.