Montenegro needs its own Orthodox church to ward off meddling from Serbia and cement its identity, President Milo Djukanovic told AFP, as tensions seethe over who controls a faith shared by both countries.
Djukanovic, who has run the small Adriatic country for nearly 30 years, doubled down on the stance as Montenegro is roiled by
protests over the status of the Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC) inside its borders.
Long-running tensions over the issue exploded when the government passed a law in December that could turn many of the church's oldest monasteries into Montenegrin state property, trigging huge demonstrations.