The most direct target of malign Russian plotting has been Montenegro, the smallest republic to emerge from the wreckage of Yugoslavia. With less than three-quarters of a million people, tiny Montenegro possesses a stunning Adriatic coastline, an important geo-strategic position, and a political-cum-business elite that is vibrantly corrupt even by outrageous regional standards.
Montenegro began setting a more Western course for itself in 2006, when it separated peacefully from neighboring Serbia, finishing off the last vestiges of the failed Yugoslav federation. The little country is now on track to join NATO, having received a formal admission offer in late 2015, which will give the Atlantic Alliance control of the entire Adriatic coastline, while cutting Serbia off from the sea permanently.
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Just how serious Moscow is about Montenegro was revealed in a sinister plot that was unmasked last fall, shortly before its execution. In mid-October, Montenegrin authorities arrested some 20 people, most of them citizens of neighboring Serbia, for conspiring to overthrow the government in Podgorica and assassinate Prime Minister Milo Djukanović, the wily politician who ruled Montenegro from 1991 until 2016. Soon it emerged that the plot ringleaders were two Russian nationalists. While Montenegrin officials were careful not to point fingers directly at the Kremlin, questions lingered about what really happened.
The two Russians were quickly expelled from the country. That several of the Serbs and Montenegrins who were arrested for their role in the plot had served with Russian forces fighting in eastern Ukrainewhere Moscows proxy war has included the use of foreign mercenaries, including Slavic nationalists from Eastern Europeappeared to be more than a coincidence. Security services in the Balkans and beyond suspected that Russian intelligence was the hidden hand behind the plot, which seemed plausible given the large amounts of cash and the late-model communications gear found in the possession of the coup plotters.
That said, hard evidence of Moscows role didnt appear immediately. While the Kremlin unquestionably wanted to dissuade Montenegro from joining NATO, assaulting the parliament in Podgorica and assassinating the prime minister to install a pro-Russian government seemed like outrageous behavior, even for Putins Kremlinwhich is hardly squeamish about employing what Russian spies term wetwork against their enemies abroad.
Now, however, there is solid evidence that the Kremlin was directly behind the plot against Montenegro. As explained this week by Milivoje Katnić, the countrys top special prosecutor, the coup and assassination plot was the handiwork of Moscow. The ringleader was Eduard Shirokov, an officer of Russias military intelligence service, known as GRU. This was a fully Kremlin-orchestrated clandestine operation to kill Prime Minister Djukanović and overthrow the government, Katnić elaborated.
Predrag Bosković, Montenegros defense minister, stated there is not any doubt that Russian intelligence officials were behind the plot, using Russian, Serbian, and Montenegrin volunteers to do the dirty work of shooting up the parliament and assassinating the prime minister. Western intelligence has assisted Montenegrin authorities in the inquiry, and American and British spy agenciesparticularly NSA and its British partner, GCHQhave compiled impressive evidence of Russian complicity behind the plot.
