Russia Views NATO Invite to Montenegro as Confrontational Move

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Moscow views NATO decision to start talks with Montenegro on the country's accession to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization as a blatantly confrontational step that could have additional destabilizing consequences to the European security, according to the Russian Foreign Ministry.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Moscow considers NATO's invitation to Montenegro to join the Alliance as a blatantly confrontational move that directly affects Russia's interests and could lead to the destabilization of security situation in Europe, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Wednesday.

NATO formally invited Montenegro earlier on Wednesday to join the 28-nation bloc, despite deep divisions on the matter within the tiny Adriatic nation.

"We view NATO decision to start talks with Montenegro on the country's accession to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, adopted by NATO foreign ministers on December 1-2 in Brussels, as a blatantly confrontational step that could have additional destabilizing consequences to the European security," the ministry said in a statement.

Montenegrin police officers are engulfed in smoke and flames as opposition supporters hurled torches on them during a protest in front of the Parliament building in Podgorica, Montenegro Saturday, Oct. 24, 2015. Police fired tear gas at opposition supporters who hurled fire bombs and torches to demand the resignation Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic's government which hopes to steer the Balkan country toward NATO membership later this year - Sputnik International
NATO's Political Games Drag Montenegro Into Alliance Despite Popular Will
"A new spiral of NATO expansion directly affects Russia's interests and forces us to adopt adequate response measures," the statement said.

The Russian Foreign Ministry accused NATO of attempts to split the world into friends and foes, and endangering security of non-member states by taking a reckless course toward expanding the area of it geopolitical influence.

The ministry stressed that, in the face of emerging and multiplying threats to global security, nations should move closer together to look for ways to deescalate tensions in Europe, instead of driving a wedge between countries.

NATO’s invitation is the first expansion of the US-led military bloc since it accepted Albania and Croatia in 2009. Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, and Macedonia have all made strides toward accession, according to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.

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