Post by Bozur on Jul 19, 2012 15:21:12 GMT -5
RUSSIA AND MONTENEGRO: A HISTORY OF COMMON TIES, PART 1
DEC 24, 2008
The history of Montenegro dates back to the end of the 5th century and the beginning of the 6th century when Slavic tribes began to settle the Balkan Peninsula. In the Middle Ages, the Principality of Zeta became one of the hotbeds of Slavic culture. It was here, for example, that the first book in Cyrillic was printed in 1493. At the end of the 15th century, the plains of Zeta were seized by the Ottoman Empire, which forced the local Orthodox population to leave for the impregnable mountain areas called Black Mountain (literally “black, dense forests”). Since then, the name Montenegro has stuck, replacing Zeta. Taking shelter in a small area surrounded by mountains, Montenegrins have shown fierce resistance to aggressors. By taking advantage of natural conditions and through their own courage, the small nation has been able to protect itself against foreign invaders and preserve its unique culture.
Despite the rich history of both countries, relations between Russia and Montenegro began only in the 18th century. Under the formal jurisdiction of the Ottoman Empire, Montenegro had a unique form of autonomy that combined elements of a theocracy a patriarchal system. In 1711, ambassadors from Russia paid a visit to the Metropolitan of Montenegro, Danilo I Љжepиev Petroviж-Njegoљ, in order to hand a message from Peter the Great regarding the latter’s proposal for a joint struggle against Turkey.
Peter the Great’s appeal was met with enthusiasm in this mountainous country. For Montenegro, which was literally sandwiched on all sides by enemies, the mere presence of a great Slavic and Orthodox power was of great importance. In any event, Montenegrins were encouraged to accept the proposal and oppose the Ottoman forces. But soon a message arrived telling of Peter the Great’s ill-fated Prut Campaign and the signing of a peace agreement with the Turks, and the Montenegrins had to face a strong enemy alone.
Nevertheless, on July 17, 1712, 8,000 Montenegrins won against a 50,000-strong Turkish army at Tzarevlatz. This victory was the most famous Montenegrin victory over the Turks, although after two years the Ottoman Turks took brutal revenge on the Montenegrins when 120,000 Turks invaded Montenegro and burnt the country to the ground. Prince Danilo miraculously escaped to a mountain cave where he announced his foreign policy agenda: “I am – Moscow, Moscow, Moscow!”
In 1715, having slipped through the Turkish cordons, Danilo arrived in Russia. Peter the Great expressed his regret at the casualties suffered by Montenegro. He wrote a letter in which he wrote about the merits of the Montenegrin people in a common struggle against the Turks and promised to provide generous assistance as soon as the Great Northern War ended. As a sign of support, the Russian czar sent substantial material assistance to Montenegro for the restoration of Orthodox churches.
That visit played an historic role in the development of Russian-Montenegrin relations. Danilo was the first Montenegrin ruler to establish a direct relationship with Russia. Moreover, the Montenegrin Metropolitan’s voyage to St. Petersburg signaled the beginning of a sincere friendship between the two Orthodox nations. During the 18th and 19th centuries, the relationship continued to strengthen. Love for Russia became an integral part of the identity of this small nation that numbered just several tens of thousands. A cult of sorts surrounding Russia developed, and even the saying “We and the Russians – 200 million” could be heard.
The Montenegrins’ Russophilism, incidentally, led to one of the most interesting phenomena in world history. In 1766, one Stephen the Small appeared in Montenegro. He was a mysterious intruder, posing as the Russian Emperor Peter III who had miraculously escaped death in 1762. According to eyewitnesses, the man apparently quite similar to Peter III, spoke several languages and had a very sharp mind.
Having never seen Peter III, the Montenegrins nevertheless acknowledged Stephen the Small as the Russian tsar. He very quickly became the sovereign ruler over the whole of Montenegro. We should note that Stephen the Small – Peter was a very strong ruler who cleaned up the country by introducing the death penalty for blood feuds, establishing a court, taking steps to establish a regular army, undertaking road construction, etc.
Of course, the events in Montenegro were carefully monitored in St. Petersburg. Russian Empress Catherine II, to put it mildly, was disappointed that there was someone in the Balkans impersonating her husband (albeit deceased). During the summer of 1768, Catherine sent to Montenegro an adviser from the Russian embassy in Vienna, Captain G. Merka, with an official document calling for the impostor to be put on trial. For a variety of reasons, however, the document never reached its addressees.
Moreover, under new plans to combat the Ottoman Empire, in which Montenegro played a central role, Catherine II changed her attitude toward Stephen the Small. In August 1769, Prince Dolgorukov arrived in the Montenegrin capital of Cetinje with a shipment of arms and a letter from Catherine with an appeal for arms to be taken against the Turks (nothing was said of Stephen the Small). Prior to his departure, Dolgorukov even gave the Montenegrin ruler a Russian officer's uniform, embraced him and kissed him goodbye. Thus, the impostor, posing as Russian Emperor Peter III, was not only never caught and executed, but he was recognized by Russia as the ruler of Montenegro and was even given an officer’s rank.
It is not surprising that after these events Russia’s influence in Montenegro strengthened even more. An event that occurred some months after Dolgorukov’s departure is telling. In a letter to a senior Venetian official, Montenegrin leaders wrote: “Did you know, Sir, that we are Russians today? Whoever stands against Russia stands against us.”
At the beginning of the 19th century Montenegro was in need of Russian military assistance. To defend the coast of Dalmatia and Montenegro from the Napoleonic troops, Emperor Alexander I sent Admiral Senyavin’s fleet to the Adriatic Sea, which was under the general command of Admiral Fyodor Ushakov. Relying on Russian power, Petar I Petroviж Njegoљ, developed a plan in 1807 to create a new state by combining several Yugoslav lands, the center of which would be the city of Dubrovnik. This state, according to the Montenegrin ruler, would be placed under the exclusive authority of the supreme Russian Emperor Alexander I and would be governed by a “natural Russian” president.
Not all the plans were implemented, but in general, the military actions of the Russians and their Montenegrin allies were successful. They gained control over a significant part of the Adriatic coast, which came under total domination by the Russian navy. The Russian-Montenegrin military brotherhood helped to further strengthen the friendship between the two peoples, although the Peace of Tilzit that was signed in 1807 canceled many of the Montenegrins’ hopes and dreams. When Admiral Senyavin’s fleet left, military and political relations between Montenegro and Russia began to slip.
Still, relations between Russia and Montenegro were not broken off completely. Alexander I approved a personal pension for the Montenegrin ruler, and ecclesiastical contacts never stopped. Peter the Great’s will to Njegoљ contained the following words: “Whoever among you, Montenegrins, who thought to move away from our patronage and hopes for a united Russia has to live with the meat falling from your bones, and you will be so deprived of any benefits in this life, and the hereafter.”
Indeed, Russia’s military and political power allowed the Montenegrins to achieve their long-awaited freedom. As a result of the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878, a centuries-old heroic struggle ended in victory for the Montenegrin people and the proclamation of an independent Montenegro, which was recognized de jure by the international community.
All this time, as noted above, only a few Russians had settled in Montenegro. It was only in the 1920s when a true Russian diaspora began to emerge in the country. Is not difficult to guess that the reason for the birth of the Russian community was the tragic events taking place in Russia following the October Revolution. Tens of thousands of Russian immigrants arrived in the newly formed Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, most of whom were part of Vrangel’s army. Montenegro was no exception.
In Montenegro, as well as in Serbia, Russians were met with warmth and understanding. The authorities allowed them to establish their own school system, women's gymnasium and even a cadet corps. In response, Russian immigrants, including many intellectuals and highly qualified specialists in different fields, made a tremendous contribution to the development of education, culture and the economy in their brotherly host country.
Herceg Novi became one of the centers of the Russian йmigrй community in Montenegro. By the 1930s, a Russian cemetery had already been organized on the outskirts of the city. The cemetery’s obelisk that was erected by the Montenegrins read: “You are at rest in the land of a brotherly people.” Among the 600 graves in the cemetery, the tombs of ten generals from the Russian Imperial Army can be found, as well as those of several university professors and priests who had a significant impact on culture and education not only in Herceg Novi, but also in the whole of Montenegro.
After the onset of the Second World War, the Russian diaspora in Montenegro split and began to decline rapidly (in 1941 and throughout Yugoslavia a total of about 25,000 Russian emigrants remained). Part of the Russian Montenegrin community became collaborators and entered Hitler’s Russian Guard Corps. Others formed the Union of Soviet Patriots and joined the People's Liberation Movement of Yugoslavia.
Alexander Naumov
www.russkiymir.ru/russkiymir/en/publications/articles/article0132.html
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RUSSIA AND MONTENEGRO: A HISTORY OF COMMON TIES, PART 2
JAN 20, 2009
After the end of the Second World War, Russian refugees in Yugoslavia (including Montenegro, which became one of the six parts of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia) had to face the new reality of Tito’s Communist regime. The new authorities closed all йmigrй institutions, including schools, hospitals, and newspapers. It is not surprising that many White йmigrйs decided to leave for other countries.
In 1948, Russians living in Yugoslavia had to endure a new challenge when disagreements between the Stalin and Tito reached their peak. Eventually relations between the two countries were severed, which had a direct (of course, negative) effect on the Russian community in Yugoslavia. On the one hand, the Russian community became smaller. On the other hand, a new wave of Russian compatriots, the wives of Yugoslav Communists, had to move to Yugoslavia, including Montenegro, when they were forced to leave the Soviet Union.
After the collapse of Yugoslavia in the early 1990s, the situation changed radically. New immigrants from Russia began to arrive in Montenegro, including both labor migrants and business representatives. They first found work in Montenegro’s service sector, although with time, they began to occupy many sectors of the Montenegrin economy: service centers, tourist accommodations, elite restaurants, nightclubs, etc.
With its population of just over 650,000 people, Russian can be increasingly heard on the streets. Data concerning the number of Russians in Montenegro is very contradictory. There is evidence that 200,000 Russians visit the country each year and that at least 10,000-15,000 of our compatriots are permanent residents. The Russian-speaking population is concentrated in the three most economically developed coastal areas of Montenegro: the Budvanska Riviera, the city of Bar and coast of the Bay of Kotor.
The situation for the Russian diaspora in Montenegro can be described as stable. “Montenegro is just a small state,” says Radomir Yaminovich, an expert at Future, a nongovernmental organization. “Local Russians here do not really encounter any major problems. They fit in well in our society and have the same concerns that all of us do. The state is trying to support them, and there are a number of social programs, as well as many private foundations that occasionally give them loans and financial assistance.”
In general, relations between Russia and Montenegro are improving today, just as they were in the 18th and 19th centuries. This cannot help but affect the situation for the Russian diaspora. A striking example can be found at the White йmigrй cemetery in Herceg Novi. In November 2007, for example, the Church of St. Theodore Ushakov was erected at the Russian cemetery. “We want to turn the cemetery into a memorial to all the Russian people who found a new home on our soil after the Civil War in Russia and who have made an invaluable contribution to the spiritual and material life in Serbia and Montenegro,” said Dejan Mandiж, mayor of Herceg Novi.
Montenegrin authorities kept their promises. In mid-November 2008 at the cemetery in Herceg Novi, a ceremony to consecrate the belfry at the Church of St. Theodore Ushakov took place. Metropolitan Amfilohije of Montenegro and his deputy, Momиilo Krivokapich, took part in the ceremony. Leaders and activists from the Society of Serbo-Russian Friendship were also present at the ceremony, along with local residents and a number of Russians who directly took part in the restoration of the cemetery and the construction of the church. Also in attendance was Valery Anisimov, managing director of the Faith Bell Factory in Voronezh, which cast the bell for the church (Anisimov is well known for the copies of the Danilov Monastery bells that his factory cast for Harvard University, which once held the original bells. Since 2000, the factory has produced bells for a number of Orthodox churches in Serbia and Montenegro.).
On the other hand, despite the positive trends in Russian-Montenegrin relations, the status of the Russian language in Montenegro still leaves much to be desired, which is especially sad considering that this Balkan country has a long history of Russian language instruction. For example, Montenegro was one of the first countries in the world to include Russian as a subject in its educational system; with financial support from Russia in the second half of the 19th century, the country built its first seminary, the first gymnasium for boys and the Institute of Noble Maidens. In the early 1920s, the status of Russian was further elevated due to the first wave of Russian immigrants arrived. After the Second World War, Russian became embedded in the educational system at all levels and was taught at the leading Montenegrin university.
The peak period for Russian in Montenegro’s educational system was from the 1960s to the early 1990s. After the fall of Yugoslavia, compulsory teaching of Russian in Montenegrin schools was interrupted. To date, out of Montenegro’s 249 primary and secondary schools, 135 offer Russian as a first and second foreign language. The total number of Russian teachers is nearly 250. The location of this instruction is problematic, however. Schools offering Russian language studies are concentrated in the northern and central parts of the country where there are few Russian speakers and little demand among students. On the other hand, on the Adriatic coast where large numbers of Russian speakers live, Russian is not taught at all in schools and does not even appear as an optional subject. The development of Russian language courses at the Revival Center of Russian Language and Culture in Budva (see below) has to some extent satisfied demand for Russian language studies among the local population. So far, about two hundred people have taken these courses and have been able to gain employment in Russian-Montenegrin construction and tourism companies.
Russian has been studied in Montenegro’s institutes of higher education since 1947. Since 1977 in the country’s second largest city of Nikљiж, the University of Montenegro’s Faculty of Philosophy has housed a department of Russian language and literature where 83 students are currently enrolled. According to the head of department, Professor D. Koprivitse, “By the end of the 1990s our students showed little interest in studying Russian language and literature. In recent years, however, there has been full demand.” The situation with Russian has begun to change for the better only in the last few years, although the structure of school education in this regard remains problematic.
Even so, the positive trend of Russian “infiltration” in Montenegro can be seen. The economic investment and boom in tourism is not the only result. In October 2008, the Week of Russian Language and Education took place at the initiative of Russia’s Ministry of Science and Education, the Pushkin State Institute of Russian Language and the Revival centers in Budva and Podgorica. The first Days of Russian Film Festival was also held during this time. In other words, Montenegrins are showing an increasing interest in Russian language and culture. Although the largest, the Revival center is not the only organization that represents the interests of the country’s Russian diaspora. There are organizations such as the Cultural Information Center of the City of Moscow and the Montenegrin Society of Graduates of Soviet and Russian Institutes of Higher Education.
In conclusion, another interesting trend in the life of Montenegro’s Russian diaspora should be noted. As we previously mentioned, the county is currently experiencing an unprecedented flourishing of the tourist business: beautiful beaches and relatively inexpensive services are attracting more tourists from Russia. As a result, our fellow citizens are increasingly acquiring real estate, land, houses, apartments, villas and hotels on the Adriatic coast. A “Russian village” has even been built near the Island of St. Stephen in the village of Radjenovich. According to Montenegrin media reports, Roman Abramovich even owns property on the coast.
In other words, the Russian diaspora in Montenegro is continuously increasing in numbers. Given that this young country’s independence is only two and a half years old, we can assume that our compatriots will forge more than one path in the welcoming country of Montenegro…
Alexander Naumov
www.russkiymir.ru/russkiymir/en/publications/articles/article0131.html?print=true