Former Montenegrin prime minister Milo Djukanovic says he represents only the interests of his country, thus rejecting criticism that Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov has recently directed against him by saying that Djukanovic “had broken promises and betrayed Russia”.
“The Russian foreign minister, as the representative of a large country, might be allowed to make somewhat arrogant statements, but we have to take into account the vital interests of our citizens”, he said on the set of the special edition of regional news programme Okruzenje (Surrounding), which marked the fifth broadcast anniversary in Belgrade.
Djukanovic said that he did not need to explain why he represented the interests of Montenegro and that his own country was the only one he could “betray”.
“My interests and all my obligations are the ones that I took on the elections in Montenegro and I act responsibly against them,” Djukanovic said.
He added that Russia had always objected to NATO expansion, not because Montenegro posed a great danger but because the global relations cooled. In that situation, Montenegro ended up “in the line of fire”.
“That has not deterred us from our path. We respect the tradition and good relations with Russia, but we are taking steps that are in our interest – the European and Euro-Atlantic integration,” Djukanovic said.
Djukanovic said he would stay in politics, but in a different position.
“I will stay in politics in a different position, behind the daily political scene,” he said, adding that he believes to have enough experience and inspiration to help.
Djukanovic also said that countries in the region should not block each other in the progress towards common European goals.
“You understand that Montenegro is against any blockages when it comes to the strategic interests of all countries in our region, such as progress towards common European goals,” Djukanovic said.
He added that Montenegro was always willing to share its experience and good intentions with everyone “including Serbia, in order to try to contribute to achieving good pace of all the countries in the region,” he said.
Djukanovic said that economic backwardness represented the biggest problem of the region.
“I am convinced that all the problems that we see on the surface are the result of a tragic, centuries-old economic backwardness of the region. We cannot solve this problem if we do not recognise this dimension of today’s situation,” he pointed out.
Asked about the attitude towards NATO, Djukanovic said that the key problem in the Western Balkans was instability and that we would not be able to seriously commit to overcoming the deep economic backwardness of the region without solving this problem.
“In our view, integration is another name for stability. That is why we are going through a strong integration into NATO and the EU,” he said, emphasising that the only certain future of all countries in the region will be in full European and Euro-Atlantic integration.
