Network of foreign agents spying on Croatian leadership dismantled

The targets are: Ivan Vrdoljak, Vesna Pusić, Jasminko Umičević, Ivan Krešić, Davor Mayer. Our task is to create as detailed a dossier as possible on these five individuals.

The goal is to collect as much information as possible - with a focus on negative information - about their personal lives. The key to the investigation's relevance is the INA-MOL dispute, with a particular focus on the dispute's development and which potential scenarios for its resolution the investigated individuals are more likely to support or oppose.

This excerpt from email correspondence is part of an international intelligence operation that was conducted in complete secrecy last year in Croatia, reports the Patria News Agency.

The operation spanned three European Union countries, involving several foreign and domestic citizens - mostly former employees of national intelligence agencies - with the aim of uncovering classified data and information related to the arbitration proceedings and negotiations between the Croatian Government and Hungarian MOL, as well as private data on some of the Croatian protagonists of that process, including high-ranking state officials.

As part of the entire operation, foreign intelligence officers collected private information about former Deputy Prime Minister Vesna Pusić - effectively the second highest-ranking person in the state executive branch - and her family, her husband's business and financial situation, conducted surveillance of locations she frequented, and even filmed her building. This scandalous operation was thwarted by the action of domestic security services and was completely unknown to the general public until two weeks ago, when the first information about it was published by the weekly Nacional, citing multiple sources from the domestic political and intelligence circles.

The story was further fueled by Ivan Vrdoljak himself, who, in an interview last week, when asked about the spy affair, said that "various dirty games were played during the negotiations."

Jutarnji list also exclusively presents the first material evidence of the scandal. These are parts of an email exchange and a final report - about ten pages of text - from which it unequivocally follows that the mentioned Croatian citizens were subjected to intelligence processing, and of a serious scale. Jutarnji list was also confirmed by Vesna Pusić herself that these are credible documents, meaning that the mentioned events did occur.

- I had the information that they also tried to discredit me, but it did not affect my work or my positions aimed at protecting Croatian interests in any way - the former Deputy Prime Minister briefly stated.

Other individuals listed as targets of the operation were unwilling to comment on the entire case. Former Economy Minister Ivan Vrdoljak stated that he had "said all he could say about it," while INA Management Board members Davor Mayer and Ivan Krešić, and oil consultant Jasminko Umičević, only stated that they "have no comment.".

This reluctance is not surprising, given that the operation apparently involved the Security Intelligence Agency (SOA) and was related to the arbitration and negotiation process, which involves a whole range of classified data that could be compromised by the disclosure of details of the case. Nevertheless, from the documents themselves held by Jutarnji list and some unofficially gathered information, it is possible to reconstruct certain findings about who the people leading the action were, what their goals, motives, and methods of work were.