All news

Lavrov chides Russophobic attitudes among Montenegro’s leadership as 'treachery'

Russia's top diplomat is confident that a vast majority of people in Montenegro do not share the authorities' stance
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov Alexander Shcherbak/TASS
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov
© Alexander Shcherbak/TASS

MOSCOW, April 27. /TASS/. Russophobic attitudes adopted by Montenegro’s politicians, including President Milo Djukanovic, amount to treachery, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in response to a question during a video link with the students of Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO) on Monday.

"When you are betrayed not by a person but by a nation that had stood beside you, it’s a sad thing," he noted. However, Lavrov is confident that a vast majority of people in Montenegro do not share those sentiments and temporary leaders will "fade away."

The Russian foreign minister says he regrets the situation because he has affection for the country. "Unfortunately, its current leader Milo Djukanovic, who has been ruling the country for nearly 20 years, has adopted a clearly Russophobic stance, which is against common sense and everything he favored before in relations with Russia," Lavrov noted.

"He had problems with the law in the West and, as far as I remember, was accused of smuggling and other things in some European countries. I don’t rule out that this was the reason for a U-turn in his policies. Clearly, if politicians are so vulnerable, they can easily be manipulated, and it is with a heavy heart that I say this," the Russian top diplomat emphasized.