Russia President Vladimir Putin may have their own international interests, not least because she is an important player in world politics, but these interests should not limit the rights of foreign countries, particularly when it comes to NATO membership.
After the invasion of Georgia (2008), and then the annexation of the Crimea and Eastern Ukraine (2014) the appetites of the Russian leader spread outside the former Soviet Union and has now spread to the Balkans. The Kremlin feels entitled to attempt to prevent the accession of Montenegro to NATO.
In March 2014, Milo Djukanovic, the Prime Minister of this small Balkan state, justified the request for accession to NATO invasion of Russian troops in the Crimea. Next year his country received an official invitation to join the Alliance, and in may 2016, the parties signed a corresponding Protocol.
This document was put to a vote in the Parliament of Montenegro and ratified in April, receiving the votes of 46 of the 81 member of this body. On 5 June the country will become the 29th member of the Alliance.
Meanwhile, the Kremlin does not accept this sovereign decision and once again trying to dictate to European countries the conditions. The official representative of Russian foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova said that “given the potential of Montenegro to NATO is unlikely to get [this] significant added value”. But if so, why the accession of this country so much acting Moscow on the nerves?
Russian diplomacy is desperately trying to preserve or expand their own sphere of influence in the Balkans, where it seeks to strengthen its position for many centuries. During the existence of Yugoslavia failed, but today she is making efforts to achieve their goals in countries of the region, as Serbia and Montenegro.
In the case of the Russian intelligence services have long been trying to remove from power the political forces struggling for the country’s integration into NATO structures.
In February last year the special Prosecutor of Montenegro Milivoje Catnic accused the Russian authorities of plotting a coup in the country, the Kremlin in turn, called the accusations “absurd.”
During his visit to Paris Vladimir Putin tried to convince us that his country does not interfere in the external Affairs of other States, but the threat, in the day spoken by Maria Zakharova to the address of the Montenegrin leaders, show that Russia has ceased to care even about possible contradictions in official statements.
Criticizing the decision of the Montenegrin authorities, the extravagant, the representative of the Russian foreign Ministry has advised its citizens “to think twice before you go” in Montenegro. Given that Russian tourists are important for the economy of Montenegro on the Adriatic coast, we are clearly talking about blackmail and sanctions — measures that the Kremlin, by his own allegations, rejects and condemns.
On the same day, Russian police without any explanation detained in one of Moscow airports Miodrag vuković, member of the Montenegrin Democratic party of socialists, which supported the country’s accession to NATO. The Ministry of foreign Affairs of Montenegro presented a note of protest, which so far have not received a response.
This style of Vladimir Putin’s policies more and more each time convinces us of the justification of the existence of a strong Alliance. And this, despite sounding from the mouth of the Russian Tsar “calls for peace”.
