Moscow Wants Montenegro to Hold Referendum to Decide on NATO Accession

Moscow believes that the question of Montenegro’s accession to NATO should be decided by a national referendum, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Wednesday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – NATO issued a formal invitation for the former Yugoslav republic to join the alliance on December 2, which Podgorica accepted the following day. Some 5,000 people gathered on the streets of the Montenegrin capital to oppose the decision, according to media reports.

"We believe that it is the Montenegrin people who should have their say in the national referendum on the issue. That would be the very manifestation of democracy, which we have heard of so many times," Zakharova said during a briefing.

The foreign ministry spokeswoman added that Montenegro’s accession was backed by less than half of its 541,000 registered voters, taking into account Podgorica’s official estimates.