Mike Pence, in Montenegro, Assures Balkans of U.S. Support<br />Along with Prime Minister Dusko Markovic of Montenegro, the leaders present included the prime minister of Albania, the chairman of the council of ministers of Bosnia<br />and Herzegovina, the prime minister of Croatia, the president of Kosovo, the prime minister of Macedonia, the prime minister of Slovenia and the prime minister of Serbia.<br />Echoing a point made by Montenegro’s prime minister, the vice president said: "NATO is made up of large countries and small countries,<br />but the U.S. has no small allies and we cherish our new alliance with Montenegro through NATO." At a NATO summit meeting in May, Mr. Trump was recorded on video appearing to shove his way past Mr. Markovic while making his way to the front of the group for a photograph of the alliance’s leaders.<br />"I urge you with great respect to make the most of this moment." Several of the leaders are, like Mr. Pence, fairly new to their jobs: Croatia’s prime minister, Andrej Plenkovic, 47, a former diplomat<br />and member of the European Parliament, took office last October; Macedonia’s prime minister, Zoran Zaev, 42, in May; and Serbia’s prime minister, Ana Brnabic, 41, the first woman and first openly gay person to hold that position, in June.<br />2, 2017<br />Vice President Mike Pence told leaders of eight Balkan nations on Wednesday<br />that "the future of the western Balkans is in the West," a signal of the United States’ commitment to southeastern Europe and a warning against Russian encroachment in the region.<br />On Wednesday, in a 19-minute address to leaders at the Adriatic Charter Summit meeting, the vice president called Russia an "unpredictable country<br />that casts a shadow from the east." "Russia continues to seek to redraw international borders by force," Mr. Pence said.<br />Vladimir said that While his message of greater security support<br />and further European-Atlantic integration should be of great relief to these countries, it is tainted by Trump’s continued embrace of Putin and deep cuts in U.S. assistance to the Western Balkans,
