Pompeo stops in Montenegro to discuss NATO, Russian interference

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo began short trips to two small Balkan countries, Montenegro and North Macedonia, on Friday to discuss their roles in the Western NATO alliance.

Pompeo flew into the Montenegrin capital Podgorica from Rome to become the most senior U.S. official to visit Montenegro since its independence in 2006. He was set to be the most senior U.S. official to visit North Macedonia since 2000 in a brief stopover later in the day before flying on to Athens. U.S. officials said Pompeo would discuss security issues, given that Montenegro joined the U.S.-led NATO alliance in 2017 and North Macedonia is expected to join by the end of the year once its membership is ratified.

"The focus here is on NATO allies number 29 and 30," a senior State Department official said in previewing the trip for journalists last week. "It underscores the importance of the NATO enlargement, the open-door policy," the official added, stressing the strategic value of Montenegro's Adriatic coastline.

"And of course, in both countries, I think, we will talk about Russian efforts to sow discord there," the official said, recalling allegations of Russian involvement in a coup attempt in Montenegro in 2016 and interference in North Macedonia's effort to resolve its long-running feud with Greece. Two Russian intelligence officers and two opposition politicians were among 13 people sentenced on Thursday over a 2016 election day plot aimed at toppling Montenegro's government, killing the prime minister and bringing a pro-Russian alliance to power.

Moscow has repeatedly dismissed accusations about its role as absurd and all the accused denied wrongdoing. The verdict said that one of the aims of the coup attempt was to prevent Montenegro, which became independent in 2006 after it split from Serbia, from joining NATO. Montenegro also wants to join the European Union.

North Macedonia's attempts to integrate with Western institutions were hampered until it agreed with Greece last year on its new name. Greece had long insisted that "Macedonia", the name that the country chose after the breakup of Yugoslavia, implied a territorial claim on the Greek region of that name.

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