First the 'painted train' tried to enter Kosovo, then the Serbian Army into Croatia

(Patria) - A delegation of the Serbian Army was denied entry into Croatia on Saturday, Serbian media reported. 

The delegation was supposed to attend the commemoration of the Day of Jasenovac Martyrs and, as stated from Belgrade, the delegation had been announced.
The Croatian police, however, have a different explanation:

„Around 6:30 this morning, a van with 11 military personnel who had military uniforms in the vehicle was stopped. We had no official announcements of these persons, and based on the law on control of the Croatian border, the conditions for entry into the territory of another state were not met. The visit must be announced, and there are regulations on how this is done,“ said the Director General of the Croatian Police, Nikola Milina.

In the document stating the reasons for the refusal of entry, it is indicated that the delegation does not have the appropriate documentation to justify the purpose and conditions of their stay, and that evidence for travel for another reason was not submitted for inspection.

The entire situation was commented on by the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić. He stated that 'Croats do not want to remember their past and what happened during the Second World War'.

Vučić said that Serbs must take care of their victims so that no one would forbid them from paying tribute, and reminded that a memorial center will be built on the territory of the Republika Srpska in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

A similar incident occurred in 2017, when a 'painted train' set off from Serbia towards Kosovo, on the Belgrade – Kosovska Mitrovica route, with the inscription 'Kosovo is Serbia', and was stopped at the Kosovo border.

Pro-government media reported 'how only through the wise and statesmanlike policy of Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić was an armed conflict prevented', while the opposition warned that the government practically created the crisis itself, and when it was seen that the provocation was going too far, they acted as peacemakers.

„The train was intended primarily for internal use,“ commented for DW Dragan Popović, president of the Center for Practical Politics, „in order to maintain some kind of tension, and to fill the newspapers with some announcements of war and conflict.“ 

Popović assessed that in the days before the 'painted train' incident, pro-government media conducted 'a completely abnormal campaign in which they practically prepared citizens for some kind of war and catastrophic scenarios.' The situation with the train, therefore, he added, cannot be viewed otherwise than as 'a stupid and unnecessary provocation.'