"Neither NATO nor Russia asked to build military bases"

Source: Tanjug

PODGORICA -- Montenegrin Defense Minister Milica Pejanović-Đurišić has said that neither Russia nor NATO asked to build military bases in her country.

Russian warships in the Black Sea (Beta/AP, file)

"There has never been any talk about opening foreign military bases in Montenegro," she told the Dnevne Novine daily, and stressed "precise procedure" was in place when it came to docking of foreign warships in Montenegrin ports, and that this procedure was being observed.
The local media previously reported that Russia was "seeking logistical support for its fleet in the Mediterranean as an alternative, considering that it was uncertain if it would hold on to the port of Tartus in Syria."

The reports said that Russia was "asking Montenegro for permission to install a military base in the port of Bar."

Russian Ambassador to Montenegro Andrei Nesterenko reacted to this by denying that his country sought "to install a military base."

Instead, the diplomat said, Russia was interested in discussing the possibility of Montenegro allowing Russian warships to dock in Bar and Kotor, but that the country's officials did not wish to consider this.

The ships would have been there "exclusively for humanitarian reasons," Nesterenko said, and explained that the Montenegrin Ministry of Defense did not wish to discuss this topic.