Montenegro is a controversial country. Extreme border of the former Yugoslavia, it is the last Slavic column towards south. Faithful cousin of stubborn Serbia, he shared the fates as the last actor of a federation already dead in the '91. While the frustrated ambitions of Belgrade withered dragging the small republic with Panslavi dreams, the world meanwhile changed.
An ancient and young country at the same time: on the one hand the mountain remains of socialism, on the other the limelight of easy money and mind-boggling investments.
Montenegro has become independent of the confederation with Serbia from the 2006 but has managed to keep its foot on two brackets: the euro imported from the West which has replaced the Yugoslavian dinar and circulates without a central bank; the Slavic legacy of the East that wants him a close cousin of the Serbs and therefore a fraternal friend of the Russians.
Driving around Budva, the Las Vegas of the Adriatic, half of the cars are either Serbia or Russia. The Ostrog Monastery is a pilgrimage destination from all over the East. It is there that Karadzic, the former leader of the Bosnian Serbs, is said to have been protected for a long time… While on the coast the Latin alphabet is used, beyond the mountains towards the River Tara the Cyrillic script has remained in use.
Montenegro is strange: an Orthodox garrison in the middle of the Mediterranean wedged between Albania and Croatia.
The Russians know this and have invested billions of euros in Podgorica. The fact is strategic if we consider that to the west of Cyprus other outlets of Moscow on the Mare Nostrum there are none. From Istria to Dubrovnik, the entire coast of former Yugoslavia is now a NATO flag. With the entry of Albania of the 2009, the game was also closed to the south.
When there was Tito's personal socialism in Yugoslavia, the big Russian brother was out of the game. The rebirth of a Greater Serbia could be the last blow of the tail to insert itself after the break of the 1948. But the idea lasted a moment. With the separation of the 2006 Serbia has lost its outlet to the sea and the navy (almost all of the former) Jugoslavenska ratna mornarica, the Yugoslavian Navy) moved to Montenegro.
A great fleet that lasted one day. Tivat's arsenal in the Bocche di Cattaro was sold to a Canadian billionaire and turned into a luxury landing place. 3 of the 4 Fregates have been sold abroad (Egypt and Sri Lanka). Same fate for missile launchers and gunboats. The Slavic dreams of the rebirth of a Navy on the Adriatic have finally been wrecked with submarines. This was a builder country before, now it's all demobilized.
The past between nostalgia and dreams of glory closes its doors but NATO is looming. Between tourism and rebirth the sirens of the West sound increasingly louder and the invitation to join the Alliance has officially arrived. He was mentioned in the 2006, he was in the air.
With the inclusion of Montenegro, NATO would put another piece of the Balkan mosaic. The political offensive has distant roots and has developed into two distinct phases:
- The first was decided in July of the '91 after the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact. All the countries that remained under Soviet influence entered with two different waves: Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic in the 1999 (the countries historically most hostile to communism); Romania, Bulgaria, Slovenia and Slovakia in the 2004.
- The second phase concerns the legacy of the Yugoslav wars which, if unsurprisingly involved Croatia in 2009, also involved Albania and "colonization" de facto of Kosovo snatched from Serbia.
An unprecedented diplomatic offensive. Burning, suffocating. In less than 10 years the balance of half a century has been reversed.
But what will Montenegro be? A piece of land that is worth more than it is small remains contended between two worlds in eternal contrast.
The Montenegrin premier Djukanovic after the invitation of NATO spoke of "historic day" for the Republic but Russia will not stand by and watch.
The eastward enlargement of the Alliance began with the fall of the Berlin Wall in 89 and has never stopped. If until the mid-2000s Moscow's response was a vague resentment (in 2004 it even tolerated the entry into NATO of the former Soviet republics Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia) now that the "Empire" has been reborn, geopolitical interests in the Eurasian bloc clash with the continued Atlantic expansion. It has not only a military value, but above all a political one. In the case of the Slavs of Montenegro (the highest average people in the world) also identity.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov spoke of "Russian retaliation for security reasons" with a language from the Second Cold War.
How this last card will fit into the new continental and global arrangements is to be seen. In Syria, Ukraine and Libya (whose resurgence is near) there are other 3 matches running simultaneously and the Montenegro card has its value.
(photo: author / Tass)
