Montenegrins Remind Russia Of
Ancient Loyalties
PODGORICA, Yugoslavia, May. 14, 1999 --
(Reuters) Russia is making the most of its Slavic,
Orthodox brotherhood with the Serbs during the
Kosovo conflict, but miffed Montenegrins say
they are Moscow's real old friends in the
Balkans.
The row is just another of the dormant historical
rivalries Kosovo has reawakened.
Montenegro, the tiny second republic to Serbia
in Yugoslavia, has condemned Yugoslav
President Slobodan Milosevic's "ethnic
cleansing" of Kosovo.
Members of Montenegro's pro-Western
government grumble that by siding with
Milosevic and ignoring the opposition, the
Russians have backed the wrong horse.
But Moscow's man in Montenegro -- the first
Russian consul here since 1916 and the only one
not to serve a czar -- is doing his best to smooth
things over.
"The government here says we should pay more
attention to relations with Montenegro, and not
just Belgrade, and I reply that we do,"
Consul-General Vyacheslav Durnyev told
Reuters.
"I am the link between Moscow and Podgorica,
and my coming here was a question of restoring
our very close historical relations. It is indeed a
great honor."
He knows the area well. Studying at the Soviet
Diplomatic Academy in Moscow, he wrote a
thesis in 1983 on the officially non-existent
problems of national minorities in the foreign
policy of Yugoslavia -- which warned of trouble
to come.
"Of course back then that was a classified
document. No one, unfortunately, was allowed
to read it," said the 59-year-old.
Lop-Sided Courtship
The world may have forgotten the quirky historical bonds between
Russia and Montenegro -- which vanished from the international stage in
1918 -- but here they are a matter of great pride, as well as amusement
at the lop-sided courtship.
Russia is vast, Montenegro has just 630,000 people.
"With Russia we are 300 million strong. On our own, we are a whole
truck-full," goes one local saying.
To be reminded of imperial Russia's former role here Durnyev, who
works from a small flat in the modern industrial main city of Podgorica,
needs to drive only 50 km (30 miles) up to the ancient capital Cetinje in
the mountains.
The Imperial Russian Mission there, now an art school, is an ornate
salmon-colored mansion that housed Moscow's envoys from 1878 to
1916, during Montenegro's brief time as an internationally recognized
nation state.
"There were 16 Russian consuls, then a gap from 1916 to 1998 and then
I came," Durnyev says.
But ties go back far earlier to the start of the 18th century when Peter the
Great hired skilled seaman from today's Montenegrin coast to help build
up his new Russian navy.
Back then, Montenegro was little more than a tiny mountain redoubt,
tucked away high above the nearby Adriatic sea.
After the Turks defeated the Serbs at the battle of Kosovo Polje in
1389, Montenegro had clung on to its independence.
Montenegrin nationalists will reluctantly admit that the main reason they
kept independence was that the Turks could not be bothered to subdue
such a poor and remote mountain area.
From 1711, the vladiks, or bishops, who ruled the state formed an
alliance with Russia in the fight against the Turks.
Some vladiks made the long journey by sea or land to visit Moscow, or
sent their families there to be educated.
The romance of it all was too much to resist for 19th century poets.
Russia's Pushkin never visited but wrote romantic verses about
Montenegro, and is still a favorite author here.
Tennyson's "Ode to Montenegro" in 1877 caught the same mood:
"O smallest among peoples! rough rock-throne of freedom!" it begins.
A year after the British poet composed his ode, the European powers
carved up the Balkans at the Congress of Berlin, doubling Montenegro's
size and officially granting statehood.
Some 22 foreign nations, jockeying for influence in the contested
Balkans, set up legations in Cetinje where Nicholas I, ruler since 1860,
declared himself king in 1910.
Russia Holds A Special Place
Russia held a special place. Montenegrins love to tell how, a day after
Russia declared war on Japan in 1905, Montenegro followed suit out of
solidarity -- and disappeared as a state before it could make peace.
After World War One it was absorbed into the Kingdom of the Serbs,
Croats and Slovenes -- later Yugoslavia. Its people, strongly Orthodox
Christian, were classed as Serbs, to the fury of many, until after World
War II.
Communism took a strong and early hold in Montenegro between the
wars. Many historians say local peasants took pride in representing the
latest idea from Russia.
Many Montenegrins were dismayed when communist Yugoslav leader
Marshal Tito severed ties with Stalin's Russia in 1948. Some living in
Moscow at the time decided to stay on.
Today, Russia's image is more tarnished.
Montenegrin nationalists, angered at its pro-Milosevic stand, are only too
keen to say the old friendship was hollow and that, while Montenegro
went to war with Russia, it got no real help in return but was instead left
to fend for itself.
"God is far above us -- and Russia is far away from us," is a saying to
warn people not to expect help from others.
Russia seems also to have disappointed the Serbs, who may have hoped
their old ally against the Turks would come to rescue them from the West
and NATO's bombing.
Yugoslav soldiers manning roadblocks in Montenegro have insulted
Russian journalists for what they see as Moscow's half-hearted support.
"Why aren't you here fighting with us?" one soldier shouted.
(c) 1999 Copyright Reuters Limited. |
