The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia presented a protest note to the Ambassador of the Republic of Croatia in Belgrade, GordanMarkotic, against the statement madeon 16 April 2016 in the Croatian media by Miro Kovac, Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of the Republic of Croatia, insulting and vilifying the Republic of Serbia.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia considers inappropriate that the implementation of the laws of the Republic of Serbia be referred to, in the public statements of the officials of the Republic of Croatia, as "historic perversity" and that the Republic of Serbia be referred to as "the state that has generated plans for the wars of the 1990s".

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia believes that it would be conducive to the promotion of the bilateral relations and good-neighbourly cooperation if Croatia refrained from such assessments in the future.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia takes this opportunity to bring to the attention of the Republic of Croatia that nationalist acts are made, and hate speech is used, almost on a daily basis, creating a sense of vulnerability among members of the Serbian national minority, which is a direct result of the failure on the part of the competent authorities of the Republic of Croatia to appropriately sanction and publicly condemn such acts.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia expresses particular concern over the participation of Croatian singer Marko PerkovicTompson at a religious youth convention at a Catholic elementary school in Sibenik, on 16 April 2016, and his lectures to elementary- and secondary-school pupils, with songs "Cavoglave" and "Jasenovac and GradiskaStara", glorifying the Ustasha movement and addressing threats to Serbs.

Ambassador Markotic and representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs agreed on the need of holding – following the formation of the new Serbian Government - more frequent meetings between representatives of the two countries in order to discuss open issues.