Montenegro is due to elect its president this Sunday, March 19. A crucial and quite tense election, because this small Balkan country has been plunged for months into an interminable political crisis. There are also fears that Russia may seek to stir up tensions between two candidates: incumbent President Milo Djukanovic, and pro-Russian Andrija Mandic.
Montenegro and its 620,000 inhabitants are in any case already deeply upset by the war in Ukraine. In recent months, tens of thousands of Ukrainians, but also Russians have settled on the gentle Montenegrin coast, rather well received by the local population who balance between European aspirations and old pro-Russian sympathies.