Montenegro's new president says he fully supports EU's policy on Russia

He made the statements in an interview with the Associated Press.

"One of the key foreign policy priorities for Montenegro, as well as myself as the new president of the country, will be to speed up the country’s EU accession so that Montenegro hopefully becomes the next EU member within the next five years of my mandate," Milatovic said.

The president-elect added that he would favor strengthening ties with Serbia and other Balkan neighbors.

Milatovic won the presidential runoff election in Montenegro on Sunday, defeating pro-Western incumbent Milo Djukanovic who has been in power for more than three decades.

Relations between Serbia and Montenegro have deteriorated since Djukanovic led the country out of the alliance with Serbia in 2006 and then into NATO membership in 2017. During the election campaign, Djukanovic claimed that voters were choosing between EU membership or joining the "Serbian world" – an analogy to the "Russian world."

However, the newly elected president's commitment to EU membership seems to refute widespread accusations by pro-Western groups in Montenegro and Serbia that he is a puppet of the pro-Russian leadership in Belgrade.

Milatovic said he would try to improve relations with Serbia, as well as with other neighboring Balkan states.

"I believe that the future of all the Western Balkan countries is in the EU, and I think Montenegro can be for sure the first one to enter," he said, referring to neighboring Serbia, North Macedonia, Bosnia, and Albania.

Regarding relations with Russia, Milatovic reminded that "Montenegro is strongly, 100% pursuing the foreign policy of the EU and this is going to stay."

"So the fully-fledged policy of the EU is the one Montenegro should pursue in the future, and it is particularly important now when it comes to the Russian aggression against Ukraine. There is nobody in Europe, and in Montenegro obviously, who can support invasion of one country against another sovereign country," he said.

• Montenegro held presidential elections on March 19. The incumbent President Milo Djukanovic and the candidate from the Europe Now movement, Jakov Milatović, made it to the second round.

• On April 2, it became known that the representative of the pro-European party and opposition candidate Jakov Milatovic had won. Milatović received about 60% of the vote. He was supported by Montenegro's ruling majority, which included pro-Serbian and pro-Russian groups. Djukanovic conceded defeat. Official results are expected later this week.