Afrasianet - In a 97-2 vote, the US Senate has approved Montenegro joining the NATO alliance, which would make it the 29th member. The addition will be official once approved by the rest of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization member nations.

The two votes against Montenegro's NATO accession were cast by Republican Senators Mike Lee of Utah and Rand Paul of Kentucky.

The Senate's nearly unanimous vote on Tuesday followed a bitter procedural moment when Senator Paul objected to a cloture motion by Senator John McCain (R-Arizona) on March 16, as Paul demanded a debate over the expansion of NATO.

McCain accused Paul of "working for [Russian President Vladimir] Putin" on the Senate floor, and Paul later called McCain "unhinged" in TV interviews.

On Monday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) spoke in favor of adding Montenegro to the alliance.

"With Russia's resurgence and quest for renewed great power status, NATO has given notice that it will stand up for Western democracies too — and has continued to do so," McConnell said, according to the Washington Examiner. "A positive vote on the NATO Accession Treaty before us tells those countries which complete NATO member action plans that this undertaking, while difficult, is not futile."