"Today's statements by Minister Rupel go beyond all bounds of diplomatic conduct and responsible behaviour in general. It is unprecedented in diplomatic practice to come out in public on this kind of communication between two ministers, let alone to unfairly and tendentiously distort the content of a conversation," Grabar-Kitarovic said in a strongly worded statement commenting on Rupel's interpretation of their talks on the incident earlier in the day.
Rupel described the incident on the River Mura as "a serious incident that requires a debate in the Slovene Parliament," noting that "civilised countries don't do things like that." He also described as unacceptable the explanation by the Croatian minister during their conversation that disciplined behaviour was necessary on the border.
Grabar-Kitarovic said that Croatia addressed this issue "in the European spirit of good neighbourly relations."
"If my colleague Mr Rupel has the need to flex his political muscle as part of the election campaign in Slovenia, he should do it in another way. This is no way to deal with incidents or prevent them nor is this the way to defuse tension," the Croatian minister said.
The statement further said that "no one should expect to gain any concessions from Croatia by exerting pressure" and added that "Croatia's position is clear, principled and based on international law."
Grabar-Kitarovic said that the Slovene reporters violated the territory of the Croatian state, that the police took down their details and escorted them to Slovenia.
"I conveyed these facts to Minister Rupel and stressed that the Croatian police acted in accordance with their authority under law, underlining the need to refrain from incidents and to implement the political agreement, i.e. the joint statement by the two prime ministers," she explained.
Grabar-Kitarovic further said that Croatia wanted to complete the reconstruction of the dyke on the River Mura in a civil atmosphere to the benefit of the local population, without prejudging a future agreement on the state border, as had been emphasised by the prime ministers of the two countries.
The Slovene foreign minister, however, believes that the action by the Croatian police was in contravention of the Brijuni agreement on the avoidance of incidents and the agreement on the reconstruction of the dyke on the Mura, recently reached by Slovene Prime Minister Janez Jansa and Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader.
Slovenia sent a protest note to the Croatian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration following the arrest of Slovene reporters near the border crossing at Sveti Martin na Muri in Croatia and Hotiza in Slovenia, and announced that it would notify the European Commission of the incident.
"The Croatian police were wrong in treating the boundary of a cadastral district as the state border, which has not yet been determined through negotiation," the Slovene Foreign Ministry said in the note.