Prime Minister: It's Russia vs. the West in Montenegro vote
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PODGORICA- Montenegro's election Sunday will decide whether the small Balkan state continues on a Western course or becomes "a Russian colony," the prime minister said as he faced the toughest challenge yet to his 25-year rule.
Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic told supporters at a pre-election rally that the ballot is his country's most important since its vote for independence from Serbia a decade ago. The outcome could jeopardize NATO and European Union enlargement in southeastern Europe and could prove decisive in Moscow's bid to regain influence in the strategic region.
"Everyone is aware that the fate of the state will be decided ... whether Montenegro will become a member of the EU and NATO, or a Russian colony," Djukanovic said Friday.
The vote pits Djukanovic's long-ruling Democratic Party of Socialists against a cluster of pro-Russian and pro-Serbian opposition groups that staunchly oppose the country's NATO bid.
