Nato’s membership offer to Montenegro to irk Russia

Nato is poised to invite Montenegro to become its 29th member on Wednesday, despite widespread opposition in the ex-Yugoslav republic and sharp criticism from Russia, which claims the move will stoke tension in the Balkans and beyond.

Foreign ministers from Nato states are expected to make the proposal during talks in Brussels, 16 years after the alliance's planes bombed Montenegrin territory as it sought to halt fighting in neighbouring Kosovo.

“Nato ambassadors recommended to their foreign ministers to invite Montenegro to the alliance,” Slovakia’s ambassador to the alliance, Tomas Valasek, told Montenegrin reporters in Brussels on Monday.

“Past practice has shown that very rarely ministers will take a decision which is different from the decision of their ambassadors,” he added, according to the Balkan Insight news service.

Before the talks in Brussels, Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg said: "Montenegro has come a long way on its path to join the Euro-Atlantic family. Extending an invitation to Montenegro to start accession talks . . . would signal our continued commitment to the western Balkans."

Nato diplomats said the mountainous Adriatic state of some 650,000 people could be expected to join the alliance within 18 months, marking its first expansion since 2009 when Croatia and Albania became members.

The government of veteran Montenegrin leader Milo Djukanovic insists membership serves the national interest and is supported by most of the population but surveys suggest deep divisions over the issue.

Opponents want a referendum on membership, with many Montenegrins still angry with Nato for bombing its territory during efforts to stop the Kosovo conflict in 1999 when Montenegro was still linked to Serbia in a rump Yugoslavia. Mr Djukanovic declared independence after a close-run referendum in 2006.

Protested

“We are satisfied that the Montenegrin people and their representatives have taken this decision to join,” said Washington’s envoy to Nato,

Douglas Lute

.

Tens of thousands of Montenegrins have protested in recent weeks against alleged government corruption and, though the organisers insist the rallies are not related to Nato membership, Mr Djukanovic claims they are being fomented and funded by opponents of Nato in neighbouring Serbia and in Russia. “Russia has sent three very clear messages through its ministry of foreign affairs . . . the messages are more than . . . explicit,” Mr Djukanovic said last month.

Just last week, Moscow’s foreign ministry said Nato’s offer of membership to Montenegro would “become another serious blow dealt by the bloc against the current system of Euro-Atlantic security”.

"This move is fraught with the powerful potential for confrontation and does not meet the interests of maintaining peace and stability on the Balkan Peninsula and Europe in general. Moreover, it can complicate the already complicated Russia-Nato relations still further," said ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.

Nato foreign ministers are also expected to discuss its ties with Russia, which have been severely strained by Moscow’s aggression in Ukraine and the ambition of Kiev’s pro-Western government to join the military alliance.