With such an attitude stated in the draft declaration, published today on the website of the Duma, Russian MPs will address their counterparts from the Parliament of Montenegro, the parliaments of NATO member states and deputies of the Parliamentary Assembly of the OSCE.

The document that was first approved by the Committee for International Relations, writes the “block approach to ensuring security and introduction of new member states, particularly against the will of their people, into any military alliance is a political instrument from the time of the ‘cold war'”, media report.

It further states that “the pursuit of the regime of (Prime Minister of Montenegro) Milo Djukanovic, who has led the country for 15 years, to join NATO, contradicts the will of the majority of people of this country”.

“Artificial pushing of Montenegro into NATO is a direct violation of the right of people to determine their own destiny, as well as trampling of the memory of innocent victims of the 1999 bombing”, says the draft statement.

The document also stresses the intent of Podgorica to join NATO “deals a hard blow to traditional friendly Russian-Montenegrin relations”.

Prime Minister Djukanovic received on September 11th Russian Ambassador Sergei Gritsay who, announced the Government of Montenegro, said that “the leadership of Russia never questioned the right of Montenegro as an independent state to pursue its foreign policy priorities, including European and Euro-Atlantic aspirations”.

“The choice of Montenegro is a sovereign choice that Russia will respect”, said Ambassador Gritsay, according to the official statement.

Djukanovic received Gritsay again on November 13th who then, as announced by the government, conveyed “the well known Moscow’s concerns due to the course of Montenegro’s imminent entry into NATO, which may seriously affect the deterioration of the Russian-Montenegrin relations”.