Apparently there was an alleged kissing attack on the German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock.
The alleged assault by Croatian Foreign Minister Gordan Grlic Radman on Germany’s Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock is causing outrage. Croatian media report on the incident, which took place on Thursday at a meeting of European interior and foreign ministers in Berlin.
The behavior of the Croatian minister is “highly inappropriate”, women’s rights activist Rada Boric told the newspaper “Jutarnij List” on Friday.
Video goes viral
The video, which shows Grlic Radman trying unsuccessfully to kiss Baerbock while taking a photo of a minister, quickly spread on social media. The German Foreign Minister appears surprised and turns away from the Croatian.
Many Croatians reacted angrily to the politician’s behavior. Criticism also came from Croatia’s former Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor. “Forced kissing of women is also called violence, isn’t it?” she wrote on the platform X, also known as Twitter.
Foreign Minister himself rejects accusations
He himself denies the accusations at a press conference that he wanted to greet his colleague Baerbock in a “human” way. “Ministers always greet each other warmly”.
Image: Kmu.gov.ua, Denys Shmyhal met with German FM Baerbock in Kyiv 2022 (9), CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons, (no changes made)