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Montenegro Rebuffs Trump Over ‘Threat to US’ Claim

July 19, 201814:58
Montenegro said it cherishes its strong friendship with the US and insisted it is a peaceful partner after President Donald Trump described the country as a potential threat to world peace.
 
Flags of NATO and Montenegro at the goverment building, in Cetinje, Montenegro. Photo: EPA/BORIS PEJOVIC.

After President Trump described Montenegro as a potential source of global conflict, the Montenegrin government said on Thursday that the country is proud of its friendship and alliance with the US, describing the relationship between the two countries as “strong and permanent”.

“In today’s world, it does not matter how big or small you are, but to what extent you cherish the values of freedom, solidarity and democracy,” said an official statement adopted by Prime Minister Dusko Markovic at a government session.

The statement came a day after Trump said he was not happy with the NATO provision that requires the US to help defend other member states, including a “tiny country” like Montenegro.

Asked by Fox News why Americans should potentially be sent to defend Montenegro, the newest and smallest NATO country, Trump replied: “I understand what you’re saying. I’ve asked the same question.”

“You know, Montenegro is a tiny country with very strong people… they might get aggressive, and congratulations, you’re in World War Three,” he added.

Article 5 of the Atlantic Treaty requires all members to help defend fellow member nations that have been attacked.

The only time Article 5 has been invoked so far was when NATO states joined the US military in Afghanistan in response to the 9/11 attacks.

Trump gave the interview to Fox News at the end of a European tour that saw him criticised for appearing to accept Russian President Vladimir Putin’s insistence that Moscow did not interfere in the 2016 US elections.

As well as meeting Putin, he also attended the NATO summit in Brussels, where he pressed NATO member states to spend more of their annual budgets on defence.

The government in Podgorica also said that Montenegro is proud of its history, tradition and peaceful politics that led to it becoming stabilising state in the region and the only state in which war didn’t rage during the disintegration of the former Yugoslavia.

It added that the country that has hosted and protected 120,000 people and families affected by the Yugoslav conflict, was the “first in Europe” to resist fascism, and as a NATO member and a candidate for EU membership contributes to peace and stability by sending troops to serve with US soldiers in Afghanistan.

“We build friendships, and we have not lost a single one, and at the same time we are able to boldly and defensively protect and defend our own national interests,” the statement said.

Montenegro has been a NATO member since last June. It joined the alliance despite the strong objections from Russia and opposition from the large Serbian community in the country.

A public opinion survey conducted by the prominent CEDEM monitor in May suggested that 47 per cent of Montenegrins are against NATO membership, while 45 per cent said it was good for the country.

The large Serbian community is especially opposed, owing to NATO’s role in bombing Yugoslavia in the late 1990s in air strikes aimed at forcing Serbia to withdraw its forces from its then province of Kosovo.

Montenegro accused Russia of being behind the failed coup attempt last October which the government claimed was intended to topple the pro-Western government and derail NATO accession. Moscow denied the claims.

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