"Russia wants to build base in Montenegro"

Source: Beta

PODGORICA -- U.S. Senator Christopher Murphy says Russia is offering Montenegro "billions of dollars to build a military base there."

(Beta/AP, file)

Meantime, "Montenegro is rejecting such an offer for the sake of its membership in NATO and the EU," he added.
"Montenegro continues to reject Russia's investments worth several billion dollars... It is making a decision that is extremely difficult and puts itself in a position that is in the long run perhaps unsustainable," Murphy told a panel on the U.S. role in the Western Balkans organized on by the German Marshall Fund, reports the Podgorica daily Pobjeda.

According to him, Montenegro is refusing Russia's offer "because it wants to join NATO and the European Union."

Murphy, who is chairman of the Subcommittee for Europe of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the U.S. Senate visited the Balkan country in October last year.

He said Montenegro "has a lot of work to do in NATO integrations."

In this regard, he stressed the rule of law and "an increase of public support for NATO membership," and said that the obstacles to membership can be overcome by mid-2015.

Montenegro is a candidate for membership in NATO, which by the end of this year should assess its readiness to join the military alliance.