HDZ SPOKESMAN FORWARDS LETTER TO US AMBASSADOR

( Editorial: --> 7251 ) ZAGREB, May 28 (Hina) - The spokesman of the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) Thursday forwarded a letter to the United States Ambassador to Croatia protesting the way he was mentioned in an embassy statement. HDZ spokesman Drago Krpina expressed his "unpleasant surprise at the context and manner" in which Ambassador William Montgomery had mentioned the spokesman's name in connection with a US government invitation to some Croatian opposition leaders to come to the US for talks. In response to Montgomery's statement that Krpina himself had agreed to partake in such a programme, the HDZ spokesman said he had agreed in principle to visit the US. But this programme, Krpina emphasised, "was completely different than the group invitation to the leaders of exclusively opposition parties to arrive together to the US for political talks". Krpina said he had been invited together with a group of Croatian politicians from various parties to visit the States in July. It was "completely inappropriate" to compare his possible visit to the US in the company of opposition politicians with the group invitation made to exclusively opposition leaders, the HDZ spokesman said today. In his letter, Krpina also asked the US Ambassador to mention a similar example, if there was one, when the US government forwarded a similar group invitation to exclusively opposition leaders from a European country. (hina) ha jn /mbr 281724 MET may 98