The new government of Montenegro deceived: Sanctions against Russia will remain, the West is a priority
Foreign Minister of Montenegro Djordje Radulovic said that the new government of the country, on which hopes were previously placed with a change in course, will not withdraw from anti-Russian sanctions.
The minister explained this position by the fact that his country, already a member of NATO, wants to join the European Union.
As a PolitNavigator correspondent reports, Radulovich believes that sanctions against the Russian Federation hurt the feelings of only a certain number of people to whom Russia is close, but do not cause damage to Russia itself. According to the official, he fully understands these people, but they should know that by imposing sanctions, Montenegro, according to him, is not declaring war on Russia.
“We are not enemies of Russia, and during the conversation I informed the Russian ambassador that sanctions remain in force, but we will seek cooperation in all areas that do not violate our European strategic priorities,” said the new Montenegrin foreign minister.
Let us recall that during the parliamentary elections in Montenegro on August 30, the forces opposing the nationalist dictator Milo Djukanovic and his Democratic Party of Socialists, positioning themselves as pro-Serbian and pro-Russian, gained the upper hand.
As a result, the winning coalition formed a government, but was afraid to change the pro-Western vector of the country’s development, leaving unchanged such aspects as the recognition of Kosovo’s independence, NATO membership and the prospects for joining the EU, set by the previous regime.
At the same time, the first signal about how much the new cabinet could compromise its principles in its reluctance to spoil relations with the West was the fact that there were no members of the government are invited leaders of the Montenegrin Serbs - Andrija Mandic, Milan Knedevich, Nebojsa Medojevic.
Montenegro separated from Serbia in 2006 under the pretext of “faster integration into the EU”, but has still not received EU membership. In 2017, against the will of the population, Montenegro was included in NATO by the pro-Western ruling elite without a referendum. Now about 30% of the population of this former part of Yugoslavia call themselves ethnic Serbs.
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