Montenegro remained the smaller partner in a union with Serbia through the wars that accompanied Yugoslavia’s dissolution, gradually distancing itself politically from Belgrade during the final years of Slobodan Milošević’s rule even as it stayed formally tied to its larger neighbor.
That union was ultimately dissolved when Montenegro held an independence referendum in 2006, narrowly clearing the threshold required to secede peacefully. Since then, the country has pursued a firmly pro-Western foreign policy, joining NATO in 2017 despite domestic political turbulence and opposition from Russia, while continuing to negotiate its accession to the European Union amid persistent concerns about organized crime and corruption.