While Croatia celebrates Victory Day in Knin, Serbia and Republika Srpska pay tribute to the displaced. The last president of the RSK described the collapse of Krajina and his own hiding in a Šumadija village in an interview.
On this day, August 4, 2026, the 31st anniversary of the military-police operation Storm is being marked. Croatia celebrates its victory in Knin, while simultaneously, in Mrkonjić Grad, organized by Serbia and Republika Srpska, tribute is being paid to the victims and the displaced. The gathering was attended by top officials led by President Aleksandar Vučić, and on the show 'Usijanje' by journalist Dragan Vujičić, alongside lawyer Vladimir Gajić and Mile Bosnić, president of the Association of Displaced Serbs from Croatia, Veljko Džakula, former vice president of the Government of the Republic of Serbian Krajina, also appeared.
Amidst these divided memories, the media published an extensive testimony by Milan Martić, the last president of the unrecognized Republic of Serbian Krajina and the third most wanted war criminal according to a free estimate by Carla del Ponte. In an interview with Nedeljni Telegraf, conducted just before his departure to The Hague, Martić recounted how the start of Operation Storm caught him completely unprepared. "I expected them to attack, but when - I didn't know. That first bombing on August 4 caught me while I was sleeping," he stated.
Martić describes the dramatic moments in Knin: "I ran out half-dressed. Several shells embedded in the wall right next to me before my eyes. I went down to the basement to try to make contact with the command, to organize a defense. I didn't know everything was orchestrated." He claims that on the first day, the defense was in a superior position and that Croatian forces only penetrated the mountains of Dinara and Velebit. Nevertheless, faced with the image of Western Slavonia, he made the decision to evacuate civilians from the continuously bombarded Knin.
At the same time, he claims, he received a clear message from Belgrade, via Milan Babić: "From Belgrade, I was suggested not to hit Zagreb under any circumstances. There was only one concern in Belgrade - don't hit Zagreb." Martić, by his own admission, issued an order to shell the Croatian capital to alleviate the attack, but the army no longer listened to him. Commander Mile Mrkšić had already withdrawn the rocket systems. "I realized I was a commander without an army," Martić said.
The former leader of the Krajina Serbs also commented on Plan Z4, which the Serbs accepted on the eve of the Croatian operation, and which, in his words, was extremely unfavorable. "The plan gave the Serbs nothing except two districts - Knin and Glina. Everything else was to be voluntarily returned to Croatia," he explained. He accuses Serbia of betrayal, saying that no one from Belgrade tried to use the acceptance of the plan in international circles.
After the fall of Krajina, from which, according to data from Serbian sources, more than 250,000 Serbs left in just three days, Martić was the last to leave the territory. He crossed into Republika Srpska and, with a battalion of loyal soldiers, placed himself at the disposal of Karadžić and Mladić, whom he "regarded as brothers." He says he waited for a month to return to Krajina, then settled in Banja Luka, engaging in agriculture and living in poverty.
The rise of Milorad Dodik to power in Republika Srpska marked the end of his hiding in Bosnia. "Dodik openly said that even if it weren't his obligation, he would extradite me to The Hague out of personal satisfaction," Martić recounted. Through secret channels, he moved to Serbia and spent the next four years in a village in Šumadija, hiding under the false name Dragan.
He lived in a house at the end of the village, with one room, a kitchen, and a bathroom, never leaving it. Significantly thinner, in worn-out tracksuit and slippers, without a mustache and with non-prescription glasses, he no longer resembled the former Krajina military leader in camouflage uniform. He spent his last days of freedom in extreme poverty, without money or anything else, relying on the help of his closest family and three or four friends.
When his identity was discovered, he addressed his fellow villagers with the words: "You know, it's like at pig-slaughtering time... I'm next..." He made the decision to go to The Hague reconciled with his fate, not believing in a fair trial. "I'm not preparing a defense. I believe the verdicts are already written. I won't defend myself like Milošević. My defense won't be anyone's punishment," he said, adding: "Life imprisonment awaits me. There's no one left to save me. Maybe if Russia got back on its feet... But I won't live to see that."
In his final address, Martić called Krajina a "dream not fully realized," admitting that he never truly experienced it. Reflecting on his spiritual father Jovan Rašković, he concluded that both Croatia and mother Serbia had betrayed them, and he summarized his own engagement with the words: "Evil found me in the position of a police inspector."
He rejected accusations that he was Milošević's man and that his victory in the 1994 elections was rigged, when he defeated Milan Babić by about 5,000 votes. "It's true that there was talk that my victory was arranged because I was Milošević's man who unquestioningly followed orders. It's also true that they did support me. But it's not true that they rigged my victory, and it's not true that I followed Milošević's orders," he stated for Nedeljni Telegraf.
