NATO formally invited Montenegro to become its 29th member on Thursday, which was not taken lightly by Russia. The decision must still be approved by the Senate of the United States, as well as the parliaments of the rest NATO member states and Montenegro’s own parliament
The Kremlin on Friday condemned NATO's membership invitation to Montenegro, saying the step risked fuelling geopolitical tensions in Europe.
“In general, our stance is that NATO's further expansion is a negative process” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a conference call with reporters. “This process yields nothing from the point of view of European security”.
Montenegro is a former Yugoslavia state, bordered by Croatia to the west, Bosnia and Herzegovina to the northwest, Serbia and Kosovo to the northeast, and Albania to the south-east.