NATO Escalates Tension with Moscow: Offers Montenegro Membership

Local Editor

NATO foreign ministers agreed on Wednesday to invite Montenegro to join the military alliance. The move is likely to lead to further deterioration in NATO's relations with Russia, which sees the alliance's expansion eastward as a threat to its national security.

"We congratulate Montenegro," NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told the meeting at the alliance headquarters in Brussels.

"This is the beginning of a very beautiful alliance," he added.

"The president [of Russia] has not made public his opinion on the matter yet. Let's wait for official statements from the Defense Ministry, the Foreign Ministry and the president rather than expert options," presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

Montenegro's parliament voted in September for a resolution to support the country's accession to NATO. The resolution was passed by 50 votes out of 79, with the opposition calling for a national referendum on the issue.

Montenegro, a former constituent part of Yugoslavia, was granted a Membership Action Plan by NATO in 2009 and has been negotiating full membership since 2010.

Montenegro's NATO bid has received strong support from Washington. In September, the White House said in a statement that the US "supports Montenegro's membership in NATO provided that Montenegro continues pursuing reforms and boosts popular support [of] NATO accession."

The statement said that "membership in NATO would firmly anchor Montenegro in Euro-Atlantic institutions, promote greater regional stability in the Balkans, and demonstrate the credibility of NATO's ‘Open Door' policy."

The intention by Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic's government to make Montenegro part of NATO was one of the reasons for violent mass protests in the capital Podgorica in October, when thousands of people rallied in front of the parliament building to demand his resignation.

Djukanovic, who has been in power for two decades - both before and after Montenegro became independent from Serbia - was also accused of corruption, and of being responsible for the country's poor economic performance and rising crime rate.

The standoff between NATO and Russia escalated last year after Ukraine, which previously insisted on its non-aligned status, went through a violent protest that ousted its elected government and imposed a new one with the West's vocal approval. Kiev's new authorities have since made joining NATO one of their strategic goals, claiming that they need protection against Russia.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team