Abstract
What does Montenegro's upcoming NATO membership mean to Russia and what could Russia do to prevent Montenegro from joining the North Atlantic Treaty?
In the thesis "Montenegro's forthcoming membership of NATO - seen from Moscow", these issues are analyzed using Leichtova's description of Russian foreign policy thinking and Sherr's description of the Russian influence culture, both of which express an underlying Russian self-understanding.
Problem definition:
How does Russia view Montenegro's forthcoming NATO membership based on Russian foreign policy thinking and to what extent can Russia exert influence in Montenegro in order to prevent its accession to the North Atlantic Treaty?
Other than foreign policy thinking and exertion of influence, the analysis includes geopolitical thinking and the special Russian modus operandi for exercising influence that includes the use of hard diplomacy and soft coercion.
Overall, I can conclude that the hard Russian rhetoric in relation to Montenegro's upcoming NATO membership should be perceived as an expression of Russia experiencing pressure. This should be taken seriously, as Russia has the opportunity to exploit a weakness in Montenegro's political system to create internal divide between the Serb minorities and the rest of Montenegro.