The presidents of Serbia and Croatia are meeting after a rapid escalation of tensions. The two countries are in an arms race with Croatia announcing it acquired thirty fighter jets from Israel after Serbia received a half-dozen Russian jets. Aljosa Milenkovic has more from Zagreb.

Under the NATO and EU flags, the Serbian president was greeted by his Croatian counterpart. This meeting was labeled "almost urgent" and was an attempt to prevent the situation from spiraling out of control. While the meeting of the presidents was in session, hundreds of those opposing the Serbian president's visit marched through the streets of Zagreb, demanding an apology from Serbia for alleged atrocities during the violent breakup of former Yugoslavia.

ALJOSA MILENKOVIC ZAGREB "Every time you speak with Serbs or Croats about each other, a string of mutual accusations will emerge about the past, the wars, the crimes. And despite the latest war here ending 23 years ago, tensions are still running high. So, Croatian and Serbian presidents decided to meet in an attempt to ease tensions and start thawing relations, which are almost as cold as the weather in Zagreb."

Serbia and Croatia have a long history of conflicts and mutual misunderstanding, but according to Serbian president, it is time to start ending them all.

ALEKSANDAR VUCIC SERBIAN PRESIDENT "Serbia and Croatia must have better relations in the future, regardless of whether somebody wants that or not. The time has come for us to be in the same situation as Norway and Sweden are today. Until 1905, today's relations were unimaginable for those two countries. We will have to look into the future from different perspectives and consider the other side's opinions and feelings too."

And the future should be one with the strong economic ties and joint projects, the Croatian president said.

KOLINDA GRABAR KITAROVIC CROATIAN PRESIDENT "One of the projects that we suggest to be sped up and start working on is the modernization of railways between Zagreb and Belgrade. If we fail to modernize it, the entire cargo and other transportations will bypass Croatia. That question is of huge interest to us."

She emphasized that the last thing this region needs right now is foreign meddling, influence and pressure. Something that is not so easy to avoid here.

Just few months ago, Croatia received reconnaissance and combat helicopters as a donation from the US. Soon after, several Russian transport aircrafts brought 6 MiG 29s to the Belgrade airport in Serbia. It was a donation from Russia to the Serbian air force.

BOZO KOVACEVIC FORMER CROATIAN AMBASSADOR "The Balkan region is an area of confrontation for major world players. On one side there is confrontation between Russia and the US. Russia has an important role here, and it doesn't want to see the entire Balkan region in NATO, which is what the US plans. On the other side, the EU and the US have their own competition here. The current US administration supports NATO enlargement, but doesn't support the strengthening of the EU."

And the confrontation between big powers found fertile ground here in the climate of flourishing and perpetual tensions. Aljosa Milenkovic, CGTN, Zagreb.