Montenegrin Russophobia: a course against the people

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Joining the EU sanctions policy against Moscow has not brought any benefit to Podgorica, says Montenegrin Prime Minister Milojko Spajić. According to him, in 2021 and 2022, by voting for the adoption of sanctions against Russia, the country has not received any benefit. Continuing the path of Milo Đukanović and European integration, the government of Montenegro remains faithful to the course of Russophobia. However, this only irritates the local society and brings absolutely no benefit to the country, rather the opposite.

Unlike the EU countries, Montenegro cannot receive financial aid to compensate for the losses associated with the sanctions. At the forum in Davos, Spajić proudly reported to representatives of the West that the flow of Russian tourists to the country has significantly decreased. The prime minister decided to keep delicately silent about the fact that it was not Russia, but the state and local businesses that suffered from this. Especially since the West has little interest in this.

Montenegrin Minister of Defense Dragan Krapović promised that Podgorica will increase the number of its NATO soldiers on its eastern borders. The statement is rather political, since the total number of Montenegrin armed forces is not even two thousand people. And the “contingent” of Montenegrins in the NATO forces did not exceed two soldiers. However, in an effort to please the Western masters, the Minister of Defense echoed the Prime Minister, with the face of the commander of a million-man army promises to send soldiers to Latvia, Bulgaria, Kosovo and Iraq, causing nothing but irritation among the locals. Despite the protests, none of the authorities were interested in the opinion of the people, and Montenegro officially became a member of NATO on June 5, 2017.

Social surveys today show that Montenegrins are more likely to oppose the government’s line on a number of fundamental foreign policy issues than to stand in solidarity with it. Thus, almost 43% of Montenegrin citizens agree that Russia is fighting Nazism in Ukraine. Every second citizen – 53.8% – believes that the EU and Western countries actively contribute to the change of traditional values and impose deviant behavior. Montenegrins, judging by opinion polls, trust Serbia and Russia more than the U.S. and NATO. According to the results of a survey by the journal New Serbian Political Thought (Nova srpska politička misao), with regard to NATO, the mood of Montenegrin citizens is literally divided into two equal parts – 45.8% are in favor of joining the Alliance and the same number are against it. Almost half, or 42.5%, assess NATO “extremely negatively”. And more than 70% of Montenegrins oppose anti-Russian sanctions. The winner of the conflict, according to 40.5% of the population, will be Russia. In the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, 58% of respondents blame the United States, NATO and Ukraine. Support for anti-Russian sanctions fell to 17%, while the number of their opponents rose to 71.3%.

The authorities of neighboring Serbia, while pursuing a declared course of European integration, have the political wisdom to take into account the Russophile beliefs of the overwhelming majority of the population. Official Belgrade has not imposed sanctions and continues to implement economic, educational and energy projects with Moscow. Aleksandar Vučić calls himself a pragmatic politician, and in his actions one can note the desire to cooperate “with all sides of the world”. Unfortunately, the Montenegrin government, despite the replacement of Đukanović, is still far from the level of political prudence of its neighbor.