internationally, butina represented croatia at the under-20 and under-21 levels in 1994 and 1995, making a total of twelve appearances at youth levels. on 5 september 2001, he made his full international debut in a 2002 world cup qualifier against san marino. he went on to appear in all of croatia's three matches at the euro 2004 finals, and kept his place as the national team's first-choice goalkeeper over the following 18 months. he was also part of croatia's 23-man squads for the 2002 and 2006 world cup finals, but did not feature in any of the team's six matches during the two tournaments. in august 2006, he announced his retirement from the national team.