US Senator John McCain said that every American should be concerned about what took place in Montenegro on 16 October last year. He wrote a text titled Why Should you Care about Russian Interference? Look no Further than the Attempted Coup in Montenegro in which he said that every American should be disturbed about what happened in Montenegro on 16 October 2016, Dnevne Novine writes.
McCain added that American people should admire the courage of the country’s leaders who resisted Russian pressure and persevered to bring Montenegro into the NATO alliance
“Last week, the Senate voted 97–2 to strengthen sanctions against Vladimir Putin’s Russia for its attack on America’s 2016 election and its other aggressive and illegal behaviour. We need strong Russian sanctions now because it has been eight months since the U.S. intelligence community said publicly that the Russian government directed this attack on our democracy. Yet in the last eight months, the Russian government has hardly paid any price for its aggression,” McCain writes.
Thus, Vladimir Putin has been learning all over again that aggression pays, the senator adds arguing that the Russian president learned that in Georgia in 2008, in Ukraine in 2014 and in Syria since 2015.
This year, McCain points out, Russia attempted to interfere in France’s election. We’ve already seen attempts to influence German public opinion ahead of elections in September. And there is every expectation Russia will do the same thing in the Czech Republic, Italy, and elsewhere in future elections.
“But perhaps the most disturbing indication of how far Vladimir Putin is willing to go to advance his dark and dangerous view of the world is what happened in October 2016 in the small Balkan country of Montenegro, when Russian intelligence operatives, in league with Serbian nationalists and others, attempted to overthrow the democratically-elected government of Montenegro and murder its prime minister on the country’s election day,” McCain points out.
Why would Vladimir Putin go this far? To answer this, one must understand why Russia was so interested in the outcome of Montenegro’s election, he adds.
Russia opposes the spread of democracy, human rights, and the rule of law across Europe, which is advanced by the European Union and protected by the NATO alliance.
Indeed, NATO’s invitation to Montenegro to join the NATO alliance in December 2015 was considered particularly insulting and threatening by Moscow. After all, Montenegro had once been part of Russia’s traditional Slavic ally, Serbia. Montenegro has long been a favourite destination for Russian tourists. Russian politicians and oligarchs are reported to own as much as 40 percent of the real estate in the country.
A few years ago, when it feared losing its naval base in Syria due to the civil war, Russia reportedly sought a naval base in Montenegro, but was rejected. Now, if Montenegro joined NATO, the entire Adriatic Sea would fall completely within NATO’s borders.
Montenegro’s accession into NATO would also send a signal that NATO membership was a real possibility for other nations of the Western Balkans: Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, and, according to some optimistic voices in the region, perhaps even Serbia.
“That’s why Montenegro’s October 16th election was no ordinary one. In Russia’s eyes, it was a last chance to stop Montenegro from joining NATO, to thwart Montenegro’s pursuit of a Euro-Atlantic future, and to reassert Russian influence in Southeastern Europe. That’s why there was little doubt that Russia would exert heavy pressure on Montenegro ahead of the election. Russia had already been accused of fomenting anti-government demonstrations and funding opposition parties. Yet few would have guessed how far Russia was willing to go. But now we know,” McCain writes.
He adds that this April, as part of his visit to Montenegro and he was briefed by Montenegrin officials on the status of the investigation into the coup attempt. On April 14, Montenegro’s special prosecutor filed indictments against two Russians and 12 other people for their roles in the coup attempt. This past week, a Montenegrin court accepted the indictments. As a result, the evidence before the court is now public.
That is why Putin attacked our 2016 election.
“That is why Putin attempted to overthrow the government of Montenegro. That is why he tried to influence the election in France and will try the same in Germany and elsewhere throughout Europe. That is why it probably won’t be long before Putin attempts some punitive actions in Montenegro to show other countries in the Western Balkans what happens when you try to defy Russia,” McCain concludes in his column.
