Deputy Prime Minister Dritan Abazovic has accused Prime Minister Zdravko Krivokapic of avoiding imposing sanctions measures on Russia, warning he will not support forming the Coordination Body while this government is in charge.
“If we want the Coordinating Body to function, the government first has to confirm sanctions. I am sorry that we didn’t make such a decision immediately because this is a disgrace to the state of Montenegro,” Abazovic told the media on Thursday.
Opinion in Montenegro is deeply divided about Russia and its invasion of Ukraine. The country’s large ethnic Serbian population is traditionally sympathetic to Russia, other communities are far less so.
Serbia has also not imposed sanctions on Russia a move which has been whipped by the EU which Belgrade aspires to join
On Thursday, Milica Kovacevic, from the NGO Centre for Democratic Transition, CDT, said the delay to sanctions showed the government was never serious about them. “Their attempts to evade sanctions on Russia clearly tell us that they were never honest,” Kovacevic told the media.
Thus, while the smallest bloc in government, Black on White, supports the EU sanctions, the largest bloc, the pro-Serbian Democratic Front, opposes them, saying they will damage relations with Russia.
On March 15, EU ambassador Oriana Christina Popa called on the authorities to implement sanctions on Russia, saying practical application of the measures was crucial.
On March 7, Russia added Montenegro to a list of enemy states for joining the EU sanctions.
In the meantime Abazovic said he hoped Montenegro would have a new government very soon. “Anything else would be very frivolous and to the detriment of the citizens,” he said, adding that he had finished his job under the mandate to form a minority government. “The appointed prime minister has completed his part of the job,” Abazovic said, adding that he had finished his part of the job to form the new government in 14 days.
“I’m trying to find some kind of involvement and compromise, said Abazovic who stressed he had he had heard media reports about the possible formation of a technical government or of national unity. “All the proposals are legitimate, I have been given the mandate to form a minority government, I do not have the mandate for a technical government,” said Abazovic, who announced that Parliament might convene on Friday. / Argumentum al
