The state Department said that Russia tried to interfere in the elections in Montenegro
WASHINGTON, June 6 — RIA Novosti, Tatyana Kalmykova. Russia tried to interfere in the elections in Montenegro to prevent its entry into NATO. This was stated by the assistant Secretary of the USA John Heffern.
According to him, Russia has used “all available resources to subvert elections in Montenegro”. “I believe the explicit aim of this campaign was to change the motion of Montenegro’s accession to NATO,” he said, speaking at a conference in Washington.
The spokesman also again accused Moscow of attempting to arrange a coup in Montenegro.
On Monday, Montenegro officially became a member of NATO.
Earlier, foreign Minister of Montenegro, Serjan Germanovich said that Russia “strongly intervened in the internal Affairs” of the Republic of Podgorica plans to join the Alliance.
The Minister of foreign Affairs of Russia Sergey Lavrov called the statements of the Montenegrin authorities unscrupulous. According to him, “Russophobic campaign that was waged against the background of the movement in NATO, shows that Montenegro does not care about any kind of pan-European principles, and wants dearly to sell their anti-Russian statements”.
Western politicians and intelligence agencies, including American and European, has also previously accused Russia of plotting a coup in Montenegro. While concrete evidence of these allegations never led. In Moscow, these accusations are called unfounded.