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Montenegro PM wants Moscow to speak out on alleged participation in coup plot

Montenegrin Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic believes that the preparation of such acts "is always organized by intelligence or security structures"
Montenegrin Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic
Montenegrin Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic
© AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic

BELGRADE, November 10. /TASS/. Montenegrin Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic has called on Russia to speak out on whether it has any relation to a terror plot in the republic on the day of the October 16 parliamentary elections.

Montenegro’s Chief Special Prosecutor Milvoje Katnic earlier blamed 'Russian nationalists' for the attempted terrorist attack on the day of parliamentary elections on October 16.

"We have no evidence that Russia as a state was involved in that but we have evidence and proof of the involvement of Russian nationalists. I am using the term ‘nationalists’ in a negative sense. Their plan was to stop Montenegro on its Euro-Atlantic path, not to let it join NATO. It was the original mission," he said.

Despite Katnic’s position, the Montenegrin prime minister believes that the preparation of such acts "is always organized by intelligence or security structures."

"As of now, we know the organizers and contractors and now we need to see who stands behind the special prosecutor’s formulation about ‘Russian nationalists.’ We need to find out whether they acted on their own or did this on behalf of someone else," the head of the Montenegrin government said in an interview with TV Channel Pink Montenegro on Thursday.

As the special prosecutor said earlier, a group of Serbian, Montenegrin and Russian nationals was organized by "nationalists from Russia" who maintained that the Montenegrin government led by Prime Minister Djukanovic could not be changed in elections but was to be toppled by force. The group that was formed to topple the legitimate government plotted a terrorist attack at 23:00 in the evening on October 16, he said.

Twenty Serbian nationals were arrested in Montenegro on October 16 on suspicion of plotting terrorist attacks.

Russia has resolutely rejected its complicity in the attempts to organize any unlawful acts in Montenegro.

"Of course, we categorically reject the possibility of official complicity in any attempts whatsoever to organize any unlawful acts," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, commenting on the statement by the Montenegrin prosecutor’s office.

"There have been no inquires through official channels [from Montenegro]. I don’t know whether there have been any inquires through the channels of special services but in this case we don’t have any information," he said.