Zagreb-based Vjesnik quotes the prime minister as saying that the arrest vindicates Croatia, which had always maintained that Gotovina was not in the country.
In the short term, though, Mr Sanader will have to resolve the problem of Ante Gotovina, a Croatian general indicted by the war-crimes tribunal in The Hague.
Croatia has also been promised it can begin negotiations as soon as it locates fugitive General Ante Gotovina, indicted for war crimes by the international criminal tribunal in The Hague.