MOSCOW (Sputnik), Alexander Mosesov — On Wednesday, Montenegro's Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic stated that the country could join NATO as a fully-fledged member as early as by mid-2017. It was previously expected that the talks would end in the next two or three months.
"We expect the accession talks to be completed by the end of April, and Allies will sign the accession protocol on a date soon after that," the official said.
On December 2, 2015, NATO invited Montenegro to join the military bloc, in its first expansion into Eastern Europe in six years. Podgorica accepted the invitation the following day. The decision triggered protests in the capital, with some 5,000 opponents taking to the streets.
NATO bombed the West Balkan state 17 years ago when Montenegro and Serbia were part of Yugoslavia.
In February, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that drawing Montenegro into NATO humiliated people of the country still remembering the bombing of its cities by the alliance.
