Montenegro Interested in Ties With Russia Despite EU, NATO Integration

Montenegrin President Filip Vujanovic expressed on Tuesday his country’s interest in maintaining close relations with Russia despite European and NATO integration, his press office announced.

BELGRADE (Sputnik) – Earlier in the day, Vujanovic met with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexei Meshkov. According to the statement issued by the presidential press office, Meshkov voiced "Russia’s known position" on the European and Euro-Atlantic integration of Montenegro.

President Vujanovic "expressed confidence that Montenegro’s Euro-Atlantic integration did not jeopardize the traditional friendship between the two countries. "

The president outlined several spheres, including science and culture, where the two countries should deepen their cooperation.

NATO issued a formal invitation to join the military bloc to Montenegro on December 2, which Podgorica accepted the following day. The decision triggered protests in the capital, with some 5,000 opponents taking to the streets. The protesters have called for Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic's resignation.

In 2008, Montenegro submitted an application for EU membership. In 2009, the country’s citizens were granted visa-free access to the European Union's borderless Schengen zone, and in 2010 a Stabilization and Association Agreement between Monetnegro and the bloc, required for EU membership, finally entered into force.