NATO on Wednesday invited Montenegro to become the 29th member of the US-led military alliance, defying Russia’s warnings it would have to respond to what it branded a threat to its security.
Russia quickly said it would be forced to react to NATO’s expansion eastward, with the invitation to the small Balkan country adding to bad blood between Moscow and the West over issues including Ukraine.
NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg, announcing the move at a meeting of the alliance’s foreign ministers in Brussels, insisted the “historic” invitation to Montenegro was no one else’s business and “not directed at anyone”.