Serbia deports Russians suspected of plotting Montenegro coup

[Adar]

Apparently Russias special relationship with Serbia is detoriating. Montenegro initiated accession talks into NATO in 2015 and it is not a surprise that Russia dislike that development as it remove a potential foothold for Russia in the Mediterranean. Trying to violently remove the prime minister of Montenegro does however seem to have been taken things one step to far for the increasingly West-leaning leadership in Belgrade.

Full article
The plotters were allegedly going to dress in police uniforms to storm the Montenegrin parliament in Podgorica, shoot the prime minister, Milo Ðjukanović, and install a pro-Moscow party.

The Russian fingerprints on the October plot have heightened intrigue about Moscow’s ambitions in a part of Europe hitherto thought to be gravitating towards the EU’s orbit.
A group of 20 Serbians and Montenegrins, some of whom had fought with Moscow-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine, were arrested in Podgorica, the Montenegrin capital. In Serbia, meanwhile, several Russian nationals suspected of coordinating the plot were caught with €120,000 and special forces uniforms.


According to the Belgrade daily, Danas, the Russians also had encryption equipment and were able to keep track of Đjukanović’s whereabouts.
Diplomatic sources told the Guardian the Belgrade government quietly deported the Russians after the intervention of the head of the Russian security council, Nikolai Patrushev, who flew to Belgrade on 26 October in an apparent effort to contain the scandal. The country’s interior minister, Nebojša Stefanović denied the government carried out any deportations connected to the plot.
A source close to the Belgrade government said Patrushev, a former FSB (federal security service) chief, apologised for what he characterised as a rogue operation that did not have the Kremlin’s sanction. In Moscow, a Security Council official told Tass that Patrushev “didn’t apologise to anyone, because there is nothing to apologise for”.
The Serbian government was further rattled three days after Patrushev’s visit when a cache of arms was found near the home of the prime minister, Aleksandar Vučić. The weapons were discovered at a junction where Vučić’s car would normally slow down on his way to the house.

Russia is of course denying the whole incident. But Russia denying things usually mean little more than that they hope to delay Western response to actions such as the Occupation of Crimea, the Occupation of Eastern Ukraine and deployment of forces in support of Assad in Syria.

[Love Mountain]

Cant say it couldve happened to a nicer person. Milo has been consistently accused of corruption and crime. Wouldve been nice if he actually was killed, but then I have no idea what would happen to the country in the aftermath. Saw this on Reuters and Reddit a couple weeks ago and havent checked on what has happened since.

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[Abdülmecid I]

Hadn't been for the actions of the Serbian government, I would be certain that the entire plot would have been nothing but an invention of Djukanovic, who generally loves to use the Serbs and Russians as useful scapegoats, in order to distract his people from the shortcomings of his corrupted quasi-dictatorship. It's definitely not random that the firsts arrests coincided with the day of the elections, which threatened his permanent domination in the country's political and financial sphere. He won, of course, but fortunately he lost the parliamentarian majority, amidst accusations of electoral fraud. I personally suspect that the opposition is not going to be much better, it never is in these states, but the people have indeed very legitimate concerns regarding their liberties and the countries administrative bureaucracy. Moreover, Montenegro is a bit divided on what could be described as national issues. Most are in favour of joining NATO, but with a smal lead, while the pro-EU sentiments, despite still being endorsed by the majority, experience a slow but gradual decline.
Now, in what concerns the alleged plot, I kind of doubt that the Russians or every other state would orchestrate such a ridiculous plot, in a country completely insignificant militarily and economically. Even the supposed strategic importance of Montenegro is over-exaggerated, in spite of Admiral Kuznetsov not being particularly welcome in the Mediterrenean. As far as I know (haven't managed to find an English-speaking source, though) their ports are not suitable for large concentrations of fleets being composed of ships of considerable size. What sounds more probable is that the mafia was involved. Statelets like Montenegro and Kosovo are literally run by the mob, whose interests there are quite valuable. Real-estate especially is a gold-mine and Djukanovic is a mafia boss with a presidential title (or a prime-minister one, he imitates Putin's methods on this regard).

[Fanest]

Bunch of bollocks which didnt even make to most of major media in the region ... i donno why guardian picked this up.

[Love Mountain]

Bunch of bollocks which didnt even make to most of major media in the region ... i donno why guardian picked this up.

The election news are juicier. Don't worry, once everything settles down and if Russian hating is still in vogue, people will surely do it.

[Adar]

Most likely because the Serbian prime minister changes his position on the events and that Russian actions imply that the claims may actually be true..

Source
There has also been a small shake-up in Moscow with Mr. Putin’s abrupt and unexplained dismissal of Leonid Reshetnikov, a former Soviet intelligence officer, as head of the Russian Institute for Strategic Studies, a research group that works for the Kremlin. The institute had been in the forefront of Russian efforts to derail Montenegro’s NATO membership and has extensive links to pro-Russian groups in the Balkans.
After initially dismissing Montenegro’s claim of a coup plot, Mr. Vucic, Serbia’s prime minister, announced that there was “incontrovertible evidence” that “certain people” had placed Mr. Djukanovic, Montenegro’s leader, under close surveillance using “the most modern equipment” and were reporting to co-conspirators who “were supposed to act in accordance with their instructions.”

Modern media does not do well when dealing with complex news and unreliable sources. By the time information is confirmed the story is already “old”. Russia is not adventurous enough to directly threaten NATO countries beyond cyber attacks but it may be time for Lukashenko and Belorussia to get worried.

[Heathen Hammer]

Blaming Russia seems to be the typical move for corrupt "west-leaning" politicians, which prioritize foreign interests (Western banks and organizations like NATO) over those of their own citizens. Not that Russia in itself is a beacon against globalism, but it is clearly every globalist loon's favorite scapegoat.

[Nikitn]

Yes because FSB assassins always take their Special forces uniforms with them on their missions; just incase their apartment gets ransacked and the police can use that as evidence against them/their country

[Adar]

Yes because FSB assassins always take their Special forces uniforms with them on their missions; just incase their apartment gets ransacked and the police can use that as evidence against them/their country

Given that it was a covert operation abroad I believe it is safe to assume that they wore these.

[Gallus]

Yes because FSB assassins always take their Special forces uniforms with them on their missions; just incase their apartment gets ransacked and the police can use that as evidence against them/their country

What, you don't wear your secret service uniform on a covert mission?

[Adar]

What, you don't wear your secret service uniform on a covert mission?

The article does not specify what unit the uniform actually belong to. As a Swede it is natural for me to assume it would be Addidas pants and a mullet. But given that the uniforms were discovered in Serbia and that their counter parts in Montenegro had police uniforms. Then it is reasonable to suspect that the uniforms were selected to not look weird when transporting heavy weapons in Serbia, thus suggesting Serbian special forces uniforms.

But given that this is Russia we are talking about there is a large number of options. If we extend "special" to also include elite formations, then the uniforms could for example look something like this:



It seem kind of fashionable among Russians being captured abroad.

[Nikitn]

Uhm your OP claims they took their special forces uniforms with them.. And why'd Russia kill some random pro-EU leader in Montenegro? This literally provides no benefits to Russa.

A group of 20 Serbians and Montenegrins, some of whom had fought with Moscow-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine, were arrested in Podgorica, the Montenegrin capital. In Serbia, meanwhile, several Russian nationals suspected of coordinating the plot were caught with €120,000 and special forces uniforms.

Yeah this isn't at all some balkan hack-job to increase some ty politician's influence...

[Heathen Hammer]

While the story is clearly fabricated, I find it rather amusing how whenever a politician in EU or North America gets caught with his/her pants down they blame "Russian spies/hackers/whistleblowers", etc. This is very similar to anti-Semitism in Europe in 1930s and, of course, the Cold War.