MIKE PENCE/NATIONAL SECURITY/NATO/RUSSIA: “Vice President Mike Pence accused Russia on Wednesday [8-2-17] of working to ‘destabilize’ the Western Balkans and divide the region from the West where he said its future lies.
Pence spoke in Montenegro, which joined NATO this year in defiance of Russia, on the final leg of a tour designed to reassure Eastern Europe of Washington’s commitment to its security despite doubts sowed by President Donald Trump’s lukewarm support for the Western military alliance.
Montenegro, a former Yugoslav republic with a population of 680,000 and an army of 2,000, became NATO’s 29th member in June, eight months after Podgorica accused Russian spies of orchestrating an attempted coup to derail the accession.
Moscow dismissed the accusations as anti-Russian hysteria and warned of retaliation against Montenegro’s “hostile course”.
“As you all know, Russia continues to seek to redraw international borders by force and, here in the Western Balkans, Russia has worked to destabilize the region, undermine democracies and divide you from each other and from the rest of Europe,” Pence told a summit attended by leaders of NATO members Montenegro, Croatia, Albania and Slovenia, as well as Serbia, Bosnia, Macedonia and Kosovo.”
-Maja Zuvela, “Go West, VP Pence tells Balkan leaders,” Reuters, Aug. 2, 2017 03:09am