Tadic confirms he asked for ship Jadran for Serbia
The former Serbian president says he asked Filip Vujanovic for the training ship in the asset split, and Podgorica cited the territorial principle. A 2006 letter records a different stance.
Former Serbian president Boris Tadic confirmed to the RTCG portal on October 16 that he asked then Montenegrin president Filip Vujanovic to let the training ship Jadran go to Serbia in the division of assets. For Serbia it is not only a property question: the ship is tied to the tradition of paying respects to Serbian soldiers near the island of Vido, and its fate is back in play because Croatia is demanding that it be returned to Croatia.
What Tadic told RTCG
Montenegro’s public broadcaster approached Tadic about a document it published a day earlier, which describes the Montenegrin leadership’s positions in 2006 on the future status of the ship. It asked whether he had any knowledge about the Jadran from the time he worked with Vujanovic. Tadic gave two reasons: the investment of the Karadjordjevic dynasty and the tradition tied to Vido.
“In my conversation with Filip Vujanovic, I raised the demand that the ship ‘Jadran’ go to Serbia in the division of assets, because the Karadjordjevic family was the largest individual investor in its construction, as well as the initiator of that project.”
The second reason, in his words, was the tradition of honoring Serbian soldiers who died at Vido and ended up in the “Blue Tomb.” Tadic relayed the answer from Podgorica this way: “Vujanovic presented to me Montenegro’s official position that the principle of dividing assets is territorial and that it would be called into question if Serbia’s demand were met.”
To the tradition of laying wreaths, Tadic added, Montenegro responded with an offer: “Montenegro expressed readiness for the ship ‘Jadran’ to be used on such occasions, with both state flags displayed on the ship.”
What the 2006 letter says, and what Vujanovic says
On October 15, RTCG published a memo from the General Secretariat of the President of Serbia dated June 14, 2006. It was signed by Miodrag Rakic and sent to the chief of staff of the Montenegrin president, Ivan Lekovic. The memo refers to talks Tadic held on May 27, 2006 with Vujanovic and then Montenegrin prime minister Milo Djukanovic, only days after Montenegro’s independence referendum. It states that at those meetings the Montenegrin leadership expressed the position that the training ship “Jadran” “can remain in the composition of the Serbian Army,” with a request that Podgorica start a procedure to settle its legal status and manner of use.
On the day the document was published, Vujanovic gave a different account of the talks. He told RTCG that he informed Tadic the ship belongs to Montenegro as property, because all assets were divided on the territorial principle. He concluded: “Already during the visit, the former president of Serbia, Boris Tadic, contacted the competent people in Serbia and accepted the position I conveyed. Of course, we made no written document about this, nor did we talk about it later.”
Where do the versions diverge?
Tadic’s statement matches Vujanovic’s account on one point: Montenegro advocated the territorial principle and offered use of the ship under two flags. Tadic does not say the ship stayed with Serbia, nor that he accepted the Montenegrin position, so his answer does not resolve the gap between the letter and Vujanovic. The letter says the ship “can remain” with the Serbian Army, Vujanovic claims Tadic accepted Montenegrin ownership, and according to Vujanovic there is no written trace of the conversation.
RTCG reports that no decision on transferring ownership was ever made, and it is not known whether the requested procedure was ever formally started.
Why the ship is in the news now
Croatia has presented Montenegro with a package of eight demands and considers meeting them important before Montenegro completes its accession to the European Union. The return of the Jadran is one of them, along with questions of war legacy, missing persons, property and the border. We have already covered that package in our article on Croatia’s demands toward Montenegro.
Croatian foreign minister Gordan Grlic Radman said on October 1 that the ship is not the only property Zagreb wants back and that Croatia has documentation: “We have interactive maps, documents that can establish it.” At a meeting in Zagreb on October 9, representatives of the two countries’ defense and foreign ministries talked, and the ship was among the topics. The Montenegrin side held to its position that the Jadran is Montenegrin property, and no agreement has been reported.
