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Cetinje, Montenegro • Montenegro's parliament was holding a session Friday to ratify the Balkan country's membership in NATO and make a historic turn toward the West amid protests by Russia and the pro-Russia opposition.

Lawmakers convened in the historic capital of Cetinje to ratify the accession treaty with the Western military alliance. Pro-Russia opposition lawmakers boycotted the session, and several hundred opposition supporters gathered outside the hall before the vote.

Montenegro has a small military of around 2,000 troops, but it is strategically positioned to give NATO full control over the Adriatic Sea. The other Adriatic nations — Albania, Croatia and Italy — already are in the alliance. Russia has been angered by NATO expansion in Montenegro, which is in Moscow's traditional area of interest. Montenegro has accused Russia of being behind a foiled election-day coup in October allegedly designed to throw the country off its path toward NATO. Russia has denied the accusation.

Prime Minister Dusko Markovic urged lawmakers in a speech to support NATO membership, saying that it will present a guarantee for Montenegro's future security, economic progress and regional stability.

"This assembly and its members have a historic privilege to make a decision that will be remembered as long as there is Montenegro and Montenegrins," Markovic said. "This day will be marked among the brightest in our history."

Anti-NATO demonstrators chanted "Treason!" and "Thieves!" and burned a NATO flag during the protest before peacefully dispersing. A banner read: "NATO murderers, your hands are bloody!"

"I feel humiliated because others are making a decision in my name," former Montenegrin President Momir Bulatovic said. "What is happening now is triumph by force and lies!"

Opposition leaders said they don't recognize the parliamentary ratification of the NATO accession and will call a referendum on the issue if they come to power in the future.

The country of 620,000 has been historically divided between pursuing pro-Western policies and sticking to an alliance with Orthodox Christian allies Serbia and Russia.

Both Russia and the pro-Russia opposition in Montenegro also have evoked the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999 —which included Serbia and Montenegro at the time — as a reason to stay out of the alliance.

Markovic said Montenegro was drawn into Serbia's war with NATO and that membership in the alliance would help prevent anything like that from happening again.

"NATO and the EU have always been and remain guarantee of stability and security and cooperation as the main basis for peace in Europe," Markovic said. "It is about what kind of future we choose for us and generations to come," he said.

Montenegro was formally invited to join NATO in December 2015. Markovic said 27 out of 28 NATO member states have ratified Montenegro's entry protocol and Spain would do so in the coming weeks before the process is completed.

Montenegro gained independence from Serbia in 2006.