From: New Europe
By Dan Alexe, Contributing Editor, New Europe
Đukanović is the man in the news nowadays, after NATO foreign ministers have agreed last week to invite Montenegro to join the military alliance. Russia has sent warnings that enlargement of the U.S.-led bloc further into the Balkans would be a provocation. Moscow opposes any NATO extension to former communist areas of eastern and southeastern Europe, part of an east-west struggle for influence over former Soviet satellites that is at the centre of the crisis in Ukraine.
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The boss of a future NATO member country, Đukanović has repeatedly been accused of running a crime ring and a network of cigarette smuggling and money laundering. Montenegro became infamous throughout the former Yugoslavia as supposed mafia state. “If your car has been stolen — look for it in Montenegro,” was the common wisdom. But Djukanovic steadfastly maintained his innocence and that the accusations were politically motivated.
