Russia Blasts Montenegro’s NATO Accession Vote

In connection with the vote in Montenegro’s parliament on April 28 approving accession to NATO, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said Monday, “it is with deep regret that we must acknowledge that the country’s current leadership and its Western sponsors ultimately failed to heed the voice of reason and conscience.”

The will of almost half of the country’s population, who oppose such NATO-oriented foreign policy priorities, was ignored, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, “The adoption of fundamental acts, affecting core issues of national security, with a bare majority of individual MPs cobbled together in defiance of the opinion of the people of the country openly flouts all democratic norms and principles.”

Montenegro’s 81-member Parliament voted 46-0 to join NATO, however, pro-Russian members boycotted the vote.

• Related Article: Tillerson Urges US Senators To Approve Montenegro’s NATO Membership

In a statement, the Russian Foreign Ministry said that, those who voted in to support NATO accession, citing the alleged Russian threat as a pretext, “will bear responsibility for the consequences of plans implemented by external forces seeking to deepen the existing dividing lines in Europe and the Balkans and fracture the foundations of the deep-rooted historical traditions of friendship of the Montenegrins with the Serbs and the Russians.”

According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, “The shameful episodes of NATO’s illegal bombing of Yugoslavia, which caused casualties among Montenegrins as well, including children, were hypocritically interpreted in such a way as to suggest that Serbia was to blame because it confronted the alliance.”

• Related Article: Montenegro Opposition Asks Bannon To Block NATO Accession

The Russian Foreign Ministry said that even though there are doubts that Montenegro can add any  significant “added value” to the North Atlantic alliance, Moscow cannot disregard the strategic consequences of this move.

“Therefore, faced with this situation, we reserve the right to take decisions to safeguard our interests and national security,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said.