NATO Secretary-General Stoltenberg: No one has the right to interfere in Montenegro's decision to join NATO

“It is extremely important to underline that Montenegro's aspirations to become a member of NATO is something which is up to Montenegro and NATO to decide. No one else has the right to intervene or try to interfere with that decision. Because Montenegro is an independent and sovereign state, and every sovereign state has the right to decide its own path including what kind of a security arrangement it wants to be part of,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said at the press conference following his meeting with Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić in Belgrade earlier today.

He reiterated that all the signatory countries of the Helsinki Final Act have to respect the right of nations to self-determination, even when a country is applying for NATO membership.

“We should all respect the decision by the government and parliament of Montenegro to apply for the membership, and the 28 allies are going to decide whether Montenegro is going to be invited,” Mr Stoltenberg underlined.

He concluding by saying that the Russian interference could only result in “reinforcing our interest to invite Montenegro to become a full member of the Alliance.”