NATO, Montenegro to sign accession accord: Stoltenberg

NATO says it is on the verge of signing an accession agreement with Montenegro, despite Russia’s repeated warnings that the move could complicate security in the West Balkan region.

In a press briefing on Wednesday, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced that the accord will be signed Thursday at the start of a two-day NATO foreign ministers meeting in Brussels.

Stoltenberg rejected Russia’s notion of hostility about the inclusion of Montenegro in NATO, saying every nation has the right to decide for itself.

“The fundamental principle is that every nation has the right to decide its own path ... including to decide what security arrangements it wants to be part of," he said, adding “Therefore any sanctions or reactions from Russia would be absolutely unjustified.”

Russia has repeatedly voiced concerns over NATO expansion.

Moscow has called NATO’s membership invitation for Montenegro a “provocation” as it views Podgorica’s inclusion in the Western military alliance as a threat to its strategic interests.

Stoltenberg further said NATO’s door remains open and that Montenegro’s membership is “a clear sign that NATO countries continue to build stability and security in the Western Balkans.”

According to diplomatic sources, Montenegro’s accession accord will take a maximum of 18 months to be ratified by NATO members.

After reports emerged on NATO’s formal invitation for Montenegro to join the transatlantic alliance late last year, Moscow warned that it would respond to the move to ensure its security interests in the Balkans, a region where Russians are historically tied to some Slavic allies.

The invitation triggered anti-NATO protests in Montenegro, with the demonstrators calling on the government to reject the offer by the military bloc which had bombed the tiny Balkan state in 1999 during the Kosovo war.

Montenegro’s opposition also slammed the government for willingly accepting NATO’s invitation, calling for a referendum on the issue.

Moscow also said that NATO accession must be put to a national referendum in Montenegro, arguing that less than half of its population backed joining the military alliance.

“It is the people of Montenegro that should make their voice heard in a nationwide referendum on the issue. It would be a manifestation of democracy that we have heard so much about,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, said last December.

The 28-member NATO has already included some former communist states in Eastern Europe. Croatia and Slovenia, which emerged like Montenegro from former Yugoslavia’s disintegration, have also joined the body.

Ties between NATO and Russia have been tense over the crisis in Ukraine, where the government and its Western allies keep accusing Moscow of having a hand in the militancy in the east. The Kremlin, however, strongly rejects the claims.

NATO members are also to agree on a major military revamp plan in response to Crimea’s decision to separate from Ukraine and rejoin the Russian Federation in a 2014 referendum.

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