Garcevic in Al Jazeera on Montenegro Coup Attempt
Ambassador Vesko Garcevic, Professor of the Practice of International Relations at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, was interviewed for an article about a Montenegrin court’s recent decision to sentence 14 people including two Russian military intelligence officers involved in a 2016 coup attempt.
Amb. Garcevic was quoted in a May 9, 2019 article by Al Jazeera entitled “Russian Spies Found Guilty of Montenegro Coup Attempt.”
From the text of the article:
According to Vesko Garcevic, professor at Boston University, Russia will continue “meddling in the Balkans”.
“It’s not a big deal for them. They have many local actors willing to cooperate. It’s been historically present in the region,” Garcevic told Al Jazeera.
Since Montenegro is already a NATO member and North Macedonia is well on its way following its name change deal with Greece, many have noted that the front line is shifting to Bosnia, an “easy target for Russia” according to Garcevic.
“In Montenegro local actors were not able to come to power and change trajectory. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, with Dodik in and the EU, US in retreat, they are in control.”
“Furthermore Kosovo is a good playground for them to enhance the influence and project power,” Garcevic said.
During his diplomatic career, Amb. Vesko Garcevic dealt with issues pertinent to European security and NATO for almost 14 years. In 2004, he was posted in Vienna to serve as Ambassador to Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. He had been a Montenegro’s Ambassador to NATO from 2010 until 2014 and served as a Montenegro’s National Coordinator for NATO from 2015 until he joined the faculty at the Pardee School.