Tensions Rise between Serbia and Montenegro

Amfilohije, Vucic (Beta)

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic was forced to give up an announced visit to Montenegro on Christmas Eve observed in on Jan. 6 in Orthodox cultures in keeping with the Julian calendar. The president was expected to attend a central tradition in the Serbian Christmas festivities – the burning of a yule log (“badnjak”). “I wanted to go, but after all this I’m not going to. I don’t want to give anyone a reason for clashes. I don’t want to give the Montenegrin regime an alibi either, as they might interpret my visit as an attack against the country’s independence and constitutional system…Judging by reactions from certain offices in Montenegro, it appears that the Montenegrin regime would not look kindly on my visit, even though it would have been a private one, just a visit to my church, without any political speeches,” the president said on Jan. 4, after a meeting in Belgrade with Patriarch Irinej of the Serbian Orthodox Church.