Montenegro requests EU assistance in countering Russian meddling
Montenegro is seeking the EU’s support in tackling Russian disinformation as it advances toward joining the bloc.
The small country, which has set an ambitious goal to join the EU by 2028, is increasingly a target for disinformation from those hoping to disrupt its membership bid, Montenegrin President Jakov Milatović told POLITICO in an exclusive interview in Brussels, News.Az reports.
“I’m very much hoping that in the future we would be getting bigger support from the EU to really fight disinformation and misinformation,” Milatović said, adding he had pitched the idea to EU policymakers and member countries.
Moldova, another EU candidate country, has been a favorite target of the Kremlin’s meddling, including vote-buying and disinformation. That led the EU to deploy last month its new cyber reserve — a team of private-sector cybersecurity experts — to Chişinǎu and allocate millions in funding for a hub to fight disinformation.
Milatović, who was in Brussels to meet with European Council President António Costa, said “malign influence from third countries” could pose a risk to Montenegro’s accession, and urged the EU to be proactive in countering such threats.
“Sometimes, I feel that pro-European politicians in the region of the Western Balkans are a bit left alone by the partners in the EU,” he said, adding that he encountered disinformation “on a daily basis.”
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