Balkan pawn in global power game

MOSCOW has warned Montenegro repeatedly to abandon plans to join Nato this year.

The tiny Balkan nation – which has a population of just 650,000 – also hopes to join the EU.

However, its increasing closeness with the West has provoked anger at the Kremlin.

Moscow sees Nato expansion as a major threat to its security, and Montenegro’s largest opposition bloc is believed to have received millions of dollars from Russia to help turn the tables in its favour.

The alleged assassination plot is said to have involved Serb nationalists. Montenegro only gained independence from Serbia in 2006, and almost a third of its citizens are ethnic Serbs.