The protest in Podgorica in December 2015
The investigation has no proofs of participation of the Russian authorities to the attempted coup in Montenegro, said special public Prosecutor of the country Milivoj Catnic. His words on Sunday, November 6, leads RIA Novosti.
“We have no evidence that the government was anyway involved in this. We will continue cooperation with Russia, as the organizers of the criminal group are nationals of Russia,” he said.
According to investigators, the criminal group who planned a coup on the day of parliamentary elections on 16 October, consists of 50 people — citizens of Russia, Serbia and Montenegro. “Their goal was to stop Montenegro on its path towards Euro-Atlantic countries, in particular, its accession to NATO,” — said Katnic.
Earlier on Sunday, he announced that the coup attempt was the Russian nationalists, who wanted, among other things, to kill the Prime Minister, Milo Djukanovic.
October 27, the Belgrade newspaper Danas, citing sources close to the Serbian government, reported that a few Russians were expelled from Serbia for the preparation of terrorist acts. When this was mentioned about the “successful cooperation” of the Russian and the Serbian intelligence services. On 28 October, “Kommersant” wrote that the situation had to intervene, Secretary of the Russian security Council Nikolai Patrushev, who tried to prevent a scandal in the Russian-Serbian relations.
The head of the Ministry of internal Affairs of Serbia nebojša stefanović has denied this information. In turn, the Russian foreign Ministry said that Patrushev’s trip to the capital of Serbia was planned. Commenting on the data about deportations of Russians, the Ministry said that “otherwise, as absolute fiction to call it impossible”.
On 16 October it became known about the detention in Montenegro in the preparation of terrorist attacks 20 citizens of Serbia. According to investigators, they were going to shoot the rally of the opposition, and then to provoke its participants to capture the Montenegrin Parliament Assembly.
That day in Montenegro held parliamentary elections, which saw the victory of the ruling Democratic party of socialists, headed by Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic.