According to British Prime Minister Theresa May, the Balkan states are in jeopardy. This threat is coming from Russia. That’s why she thinks that European leaders should establish tighter cooperation with those Balkan states that are not EU members to avoid letting Russia spread their influence over those states.
This statement was made as a response to a failed coup d'etat in Montenegro . Having analyzed the situation, Theresa May arrived at a conclusion saying that there is a lot of tension in the region, which threatens the security of the EU and the entire Europe. As expected, she put the blame on Russian secret services coupled with tons of disinformation campaigns led by the Kremlin.
For those of you who don't know, the Attorney General of Montenegro made a statement in late February, accusing Russian secret services of trying to start a coup d'etat in the country. Back in October 2016, when Montenegro held parliamentary elections, they were planning a series of attacks, including an assault on the President. The aim was to create chaos and allow an opposing party to come into power, the attorney said. This opposing party should have changed the country’s political course in favor of Russia and abandon the idea of integrating into the EU and joining the NATO. This way, Montenegro should have become a puppet of Moscow’s.
However, the attorney said that the attempt had failed, leading to mass arrests – around 20 criminals, mostly from pro-Russian Serbia. They were a couple of hours away from starting those attacks, which means that the police came just in time. As for the Kremlin’s comments on the matter, they didn’t disprove the accusation. They only said that those accusations weren’t based on any evidence.
In order to avoid similar scenarios in the future, Theresa May urges the governments of all the Balkan states to learn a lesson from this incident and reinforce their security measures and start tighter integration in the NATO and the European Union.
