The Center for Civic Education (CCE) said it expressed serious concern about what they said were today’s guest lectures by Russian professors Ekaterina Entina and Marko Entina at the Institute of History of the University of Montenegro (UCG), given their connections with the structures of Russian diplomacy and politics, as well as the content of the messages sent today from an organizational unit of a university in Montenegro.
As stated in the CCE statement, the event was protocolically opened by the director of the Historical Institute, Radenko Šćekić, and was followed by the speech of the Russian Ambassador to Montenegro, Aleksandr Petrovich Lukashik, who emphasized “the strong pressure from the West on Russia and the need for an even stronger response to the current geopolitical, economic and social turmoil.”
“Dr. Mark Entin, professor at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO), gave a lecture on ‘History of European and Eurasian Integrations and Their Contemporary State’. In addition to his academic career, Entin has many years of experience in Russian diplomacy, through high positions in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, then the position of Deputy Permanent Representative of Russia to the Council of Europe, as well as the Russian Ambassador to Luxembourg,” reads a statement from CCE signed by the coordinator of the Active Citizenship program, Sara Čabarkapa.
photo: CGO
According to them, the institutional connection of Dr. Ekaterina Entina, who, as they claim, held a lecture on the topic “Modern Russian research on the Balkans and possible directions of cooperation in today’s conditions”, with the instruments of Russian public diplomacy is even more direct.
They added that she is a professor at the National Research University “Higher School of Economics”, head of the Department of Black Sea and Mediterranean Research at the Institute of Europe of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and advisor to the director of the Gorchakov Fund, which is under European Union sanctions.
“However, today she offered cooperation between the Historical Institute of the University of Montenegro and the Gorchakov Fund, which requires a clear explanation from the leadership of the University of Montenegro, especially considering Montenegro’s European path and the fact that it is a public university financed by citizens’ money. According to the observations of the representative of the CCE, Ivan Kašćelan, who attended the event, the lectures were far from academic, presenting different theoretical approaches. ‘Regret for the ever worse relations between Montenegro and Russia’ was expressed, there was talk of ‘Western pressure on Russia’, and Dr. Entina, presenting her research on political processes in the Balkans, spoke of the ‘demonization of the Serbian population after the wars of the 90s’ and intensively used the term ‘Serbian world’. In the report she co-authored, Entina previously stated that the West’s claims about Russian interference in the elections in Montenegro and other forms of activity in the region contributed to strengthening the perception of Russia as a great power among the Balkan public, with the conclusion that such a perception ‘can and should be used'”, it is emphasized in CCE press release.
photo: CGO
They added that Dr. Mark Entin, criticizing the existing model of European integration, cited “positive examples of integration practices in the Eurasian Economic Union and BRICS”, and, they claim, described the EU through allegedly discriminatory mechanisms.
“He claimed that from his own experience ‘he can confirm that the EU restricts academic freedoms, while in the Russian Federation they are respected’. An additional dimension to the event was given by the unusually informal atmosphere for an academic institution. Over brandy, people talked and toasted about geopolitics, Western pressure on Russia and the position of Montenegro, while Radenko Šćekić, among other things, said that ‘European integration has been imposed on Montenegro, whether we like it or not, and that it is now its reality’,” it states.
CCE also said that their representative Kašćelan asked the director of the Historical Institute to clarify the announced deepening of cooperation with the Gorčakov Fund, taking into account its sanctioned status in the EU, because, as they state, Šćekić responded positively to Dr. Entina’s offer and stated that this cooperation had existed before.
“Šćekić stated that ‘academic cooperation must be preserved, despite all other circumstances’. When asked by Kašćelan why she constantly uses the phrase ‘Serbian world’ in her lecture on the Balkans, Dr. Entini replied that ‘when they publish books about the Montenegrin people, they will talk about the Montenegrin world’. One of the attendees, whom CCE believes to be from the Russian Embassy, added that ‘the Serbian world is part of the Historical Institute’, and there were no reactions from those present from the Historical Institute itself and its director. In addition, the gathering was modestly attended, and in addition to the lecturers, representatives of the Russian Embassy, the director and the technical staff of the Institute, there were associates Žarko Leković, Jelisaveta Blagojević Miljanić, and intern Filip Vešović. Kašćelan expressed the view that ‘despite the fact that academic cooperation is immune to geopolitical circumstances, it is unacceptable to provide space to scientists who are deeply incorporated and are part of the aggressor regime in Russia and in this way openly spread propaganda'”, the statement reads. CCE.
They add that after pointing out that, due to the intoxicating smell of brandy that was spreading throughout the room, it was necessary to open the windows, the Kašćelan resident was suggested to leave the gathering “if it bothered him”, which, they add, he did.
“CCE publicly calls on Radenko Šćekić, director of the Historical Institute, and Vladimir Božović, rector of the University of Montenegro, to answer the public about who initiated and financed this visit, who approved the event, according to what criteria the guests were selected, what kind of specific cooperation is planned with the Gorčakov Fund, and whether the institutional and reputational risk of such cooperation has been previously assessed. According to the information available to CCE, the rector of the University of Montenegro was aware of the event. Therefore, we expect his answer as to whether he gave consent or direct support to its organization,” it states.
CCE expects the Government of Montenegro, as the key financier of the University of Montenegro, to take action on the announced cooperation of an organizational unit of a state university with a sanctioned Russian fund, as well as for the competent authorities to clarify the relevant circumstances of the entry and stay of these guests in Montenegro, if there are special regimes or restrictions for this.
“Academic freedom implies open dialogue and pluralism, but it does not imply the absence of responsibility. Especially not at a public university, in a country that is in the final stages of negotiations for EU membership, when institutional cooperation with an organization under sanctions by the same EU is announced,” the CCE statement reads.
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