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August 4, 2017 www.intellinews.com I Page 4
Highlighting the issue, not long after Pence left Tallinn for Tbilisi, Nato jets reportedly intercepted three Russian military aircraft near Estonian airspace. A Nato spokesman told CNN that two Spanish F-18 jets assigned to Nato’s Baltic Air Policing mission on August 1 had intercepted non-Nato military aircraft. The aircraft were later identified as two Russian MiG-31 fighter jets and an AN-26 transport plane by the Finnish airforce. The US vice president had a similar message for the authorities in Georgia, which unlike Estonia and Montenegro is not a Nato member state, although it is keen to join.
Pence reiterated US support for Georgia’s bid for membership of Nato, though he did not provide details about when the country could expect to join. Allowing Georgia to enter Nato would be seen as a huge provocation in Moscow and it would also put Nato members in the position of having to defend Georgia militarily should conflict again break out around the two Russian-backed separatist repub- lics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
During his visit, Pence expressed support for Georgia’s territorial integrity, condemning Russia for occupying the two Georgian regions (in fact the two breakaway regions have embraced Russia’s financial and military support).
Nonetheless, his messages were welcomed by Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili.
“We heard very clear messages to Georgia. In terms of supporting Georgia's territorial integrity, foreign policy priorities, and the country's overall empowerment, America has always been and will be Georgia's top strategic partner, and this visit is yet another demonstration of that,” Kvirikashvili told a joint press conference, according to a Georgian government statement.
Montenegro, the final stop on Pence’s tour, became a Nato member earlier this year. He arrived in Podgorica on August 1 in advance of the Adriatic Charter summit, which brings together countries from the Western Balkans to help them integrate into Nato.
Stratfor analysts describe the choice of Montenegro as “highly symbolic” given its recent entrance to Nato in the face of Russian hostility.
Russia had fiercely resisted the accession of Mon- tenegro – once a close ally and economic partner – to the western alliance. Russian agents are alleged to have been behind a coup attempt in Montenegro, which was thwarted on the day of the October 2016 general election in the Balkan country. Moscow is also believed to finance the opposition Democratic Front in Montenegro, which held several anti-Nato demonstrations that erupted into clashes with police in 2015. Both are seen as attempts by Russia to hinder Montenegro’s path to Nato accession by fostering instability in the country.
While Montenegro has now secured its member- ship, this is not expected to be the end of strug- gle between the US and EU on the one hand, and Russia on the other, for supremacy in the Bal- kans. “The Russia-West standoff can be expected to intensify in the Balkans, as Moscow seeks to undermine Nato aspirant states such as Macedo- nia by supporting any anti-Albanian movements in the country and by building security ties and leverage over more Russia-friendly countries in the region such as Serbia,” Stratfor forecasts.
“Russia is stepping back into the western Bal- kans, smelling the vulnerabilities of people and institutions, high levels of public corruption, the dividing national politics, and scepticism about a better future. Kremlin is using a mix of hybrid tools to exploit regional stereotypes, ethnic ten- sions, and unresolved legacies of the conflicts of the 1990s,” wrote Professor Valbona Zeneli, pro- gramme director, Black Sea and Eurasia at the George C. Marshall Center’s College of Interna- tional and Security Studies in a paper published by the Atlantic Community think-tank in June.
“The main objective is to weaken the relations of the western Balkans with the West, hinder the Euro-Atlantic enlargement process aiming to create a "non alignment zone" in the region,” Zeneli added.