It is a measure of how cold the West’s relations with Russia have become that NATO’s membership invitation to Montenegro — a small, poor Balkan state with a military force of 2,000 and no strategic significance save putting the last bit of Europe’s Mediterranean coastline under the alliance — would provoke furious cries of “provocation” and “encirclement” from the Kremlin.
It is a measure of how cold the West’s relations with Russia have become that NATO’s membership invitation to Montenegro — a small, poor Balkan state with a military force of 2,000 and no strategic significance save putting the last bit of Europe’s Mediterranean coastline under the alliance — would provoke furious cries of “provocation” and “encirclement” from the Kremlin.
Secretary of State John Kerry insisted that NATO is not focused on Russia “per se,” but the inescapable perception is that that’s exactly where the old Cold War alliance is once again. Inviting Montenegro into the alliance at a time when Russia and NATO are pursuing different military goals in Syria was a message to Moscow that it does not have a veto over Western actions.
The invitation to Montenegro was not in itself unexpected. In the first years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, NATO served more as a certificate of membership in the West than as a military alliance. Along with two other former Yugoslav republics, Bosnia and Macedonia, Montenegro has had a “membership plan” — a road map to full membership — for several years. (Bosnia’s membership is being delayed by a breakaway Serbian enclave, Macedonia’s by Greece’s objection to its name.) Earlier this fall, Montenegro was told it had made the cut.
As Western relations with Russia have deteriorated, President Vladimir Putin has escalated his efforts to prevent any further encroachment on what he sees as Russia’s sphere of influence. The 2008 war with Georgia was motivated at least in part by Russia’s desire to make sure that no more former Soviet republics move closer to NATO or the European Union. To NATO, Russia’s annexation of Crimea and involvement in eastern Ukraine were unacceptable violations of the post-Cold War order.
Though Montenegro poses no threat to Russia, Putin considers any expansion of NATO an affront to Russian power. A Cold War posture is also seen in Putin’s efforts to prop up the murderous and flailing Syrian government of Bashar Assad, even if that means taking actions that undermine Western efforts to destroy the Islamic State.
There may be other reasons to question Montenegro’s membership in NATO, such as sharply divided sentiments among Montenegrins about joining the alliance. But Russia’s ire should not determine NATO policy.
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