PODGORICA - Montenegro's president accused
Serbia and Russia on Friday of using the Serbian Orthodox Church
to undermine his country's pro-Western government as it seeks
European Union membership.
Milo Djukanovic, who has ruled for over three decades, said
that a series of rallies against a religion law which have been
led by Serbian Orthodox clerics in the tiny Balkan country were
intended "to question Montenegro's independence."
Metropolitan Ilarion, a Russian Orthodox Church cleric, has
voiced support for the interests of the Serbian Orthodox Church
in Montenegro. Metropolitan Onufriy, the head of the Ukrainian
Orthodox Church which is loyal to the Moscow patriarchate,
joined protests this week in the Montenegrin capital, Podgorica.
"If you are asking whether this is a continuity of the
(attempted) destruction of Montenegro and obstruction of its
intention to continue its path to ... European and Euro-Atlantic
integrations, there's no doubt in that," Djukanovic told Reuters
in an interview.
"Moscow was unequivocal in stating its interests in the
ongoing (religion) problem in Montenegro."
Djukanovic accused Belgrade of reviving the nationalistic
concept of a Greater Serbia that contributed to the Balkan wars
of the 1990s and former Yugoslavia's collapse.
"We have no doubt that ... all the mechanisms of the
implementation of the Greater Serbian state project ... have
been put into motion, and that Montenegro is also a target," he
said.
Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for Russia's Foreign
Ministry, dismissed Djukanovic's remarks, saying: "Nobody could
possibly undermine his own doings more than himself."
Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic rejected Djukanovic's
comments. Referring to protests he has faced un the country of
620,000, she said he had "a problem in his own country and with
he citizens of Montenegro."
"I am surprised by the rhetoric of President Djukanovic ...
Serbia has abandoned 1990s long time ago and turned to the
future," Brnabic said, adding that Serbia was demanding for
Serbs in Montenegro only the right to their own language and
religion.
EU AMBITIONS
The protests that began in December are over a law which
would allow the state to take ownership of church property if
the church cannot prove it owned it before 1918 - when the-then
Kingdom of Montenegro joined the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and
Slovenes, the predecessor of Yugoslavia.
The Serbian Orthodox Church is the dominant religion in
Montenegro, a country of 620,000 people, and has around 12
million members, mainly in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia.
Serbia and Montenegro are both negotiating entry to the EU.
Montenegro joined NATO in 2017, but Belgrade is not seeking
membership of the defence alliance.
Ethnic Serbs account for around a third of Montenegro's
population. Many Serbians have roots in Montenegro and families
in the country, while tens of thousands of Montenegrins reside
in Serbia.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has said Belgrade will
not interfere in Montenegro's affairs, but also said Serbia will
help the Serb minority there.
"Serbia is rushing headlong into a dangerous trap of
protection of allegedly endangered rights of (minority) Serbs
... while endangering the sovereignty of other states,"
Djukanovic said.