MOSCOW, October 1. /TASS/. Fifteen years ago US-led NATO countries were bombing the territory of former Yugoslavia. These days the North Atlantic Alliance is about to make a decision to invite Montenegro to join the list of its members. Macedonia and Bosnia are next in line. Both are eager to follow in the footsteps of Croatia and Albania to become members of NATO.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov described NATO’s expansion in the Balkans as a “provocation” and a “wrong policy.” “In a sense this is an irresponsible policy that undermines the determination to build a common system of security in Europe, a system equal for all, irrespective of whether the country was a member of this or that bloc,” Lavrov said in an interview granted to the Bosnian daily DnevniAvaz.
The executive vice-president of the Atlantic Council of the United States, Damon Wilson, explained to Montenegro’s newspaper Pobjeda the reasons why NATO is so eager to spread to the Balkans. If countries in that region do not move on towards democratic values and free markets, Russia will gain greater influence and begin to show muscle through the control of energy infrastructures in the region, using it for both commercial interests and political aims.