The current ACM chairperson is Milica Pejanovic – Djurisic, a long-time official of the once ruling DPS, former minister of defence and a reputable senior diplomat. The activities of the ACM are realised through three centres of which the Digital Forensic Center (DFC) comes to the fore. DFC was founded in 2018 and has released a number of publications on Russian malign influence, mainly from the view point of DPS

Last week (3-4 Oct) the 14th To Be Secure Forum Montenegro (2BS) took place in Hotel Splendid in Becici – Budva, under the auspices of the Atlantic Council of Montenegro (ACM). Its website states that 2BS is a leading politico – security conference in Southeast Europe. This year’s topic is World in Disorder: Turning Adversity into Opportunity with a focus on the repercussions and security challenges in the Western Balkans.

The event brought together more than 400 participants including government officials, high-ranking representatives of international organisations and diplomatic missions, and prominent experts in security and international relations. ACM points out that “it has devoted itself to the promotion of Euro-Atlantic values ​​and international security since it was founded in 2006”. In the same year, the ACM became a member of the global Atlantic Charter Association (ATA).

The current ACM chairperson is Milica Pejanovic – Djurisic, a long-time high official of the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS). She was also a Minister of Defence and a reputable senior diplomat. The ACM activities are carried out through 3 centres, of which the most exposed is the Digital Forensic Center (DFC) founded in 2018. DFC has released a number of publications on the subject of Russian malign influence, mainly from the view point of DPS. Allegedly, the DFC was founded in order to “fight against disinformation, fake news and propaganda campaigns aimed at destabilising democratic processes in Montenegro and the Western Balkans.”

The founder of the 2BS Forum and the DFC is Savo Kentera from Budva. He chaired the Montenegrin Atlantic Council from 2008 until May 2022, when the minority government of PM Dritan Abazovic (supported by DPS in the national assembly) appointed him to head the National Security Agency (NSA). Mr Kentera lasted little less than 5 months. As soon as the 12th 2BS Forum in Becici was over, he was sacked by the government following the DPS termination of support to Abazovic after he signed signed the controversial Concordat with the Serbian Church (SOC). Prior to his sacking Mr Kentera launched an NSA operation against Russian spy network, allegedly in cooperation with international partners and the Special Prosecutor’s Office (SPO). Two Montenegrin citizens were arrested, 6 Russian diplomats were expelled, and 28 foreigners were barred from entering the country.

However, the whole operation turned out to be a farce. Eventually, the two Montenegrins were not accused for espionage. Only one was suspected for illegal possession of weapons. No trial has ever taken place. 

It is worth noting that the 2BS Forum founder (who claims that he supports Euro-Atlantic values) for many years chose the same hotel for the conferences. The founder of Hotel Splendid and its majority owner is now late Viktor Ivanyenko – retired director of the infamous KGB. During his term under President Boris Yeltsin, the service changed its name to the Federal Security Service (FSB). How a state employee and the chief of spies of the Russian Federation (and with money of dubious origin) came to own 4 hotels on the Montenegrin coast was never a reason for any concern, let alone inquiry, while the country was led by so-called  pro-western Milo Djukanovic.

The Russian president Vladimir Putin (who was also at the helm of FSB following Ivanyenko’s retirement) said in 2004 that “ there is no such thing as a former KGB man”. The hotel is known as a meeting place of Russian intelligence and foreign and local business people and/or criminals. One of them, very close to Djukanovic, was put on the US Treasury’s blacklist, while another of his buddies is now under the protection (from going to prison) of Aleksandar Vucic. 

Not only politicians and criminals have links with the Russian intelligence. In the aforesaid hotel on 24 May 2022 the then head of the Montenegrin Church (MOC) Miras Dedeic (The Rt Rev. Mihailo) met with a GRU (Main Intelligence Directorate) colonel Leonid Malofeyev. After a 5-hour meeting the two were photographed together. Mr Malofeyev, whose photographs with the Rt Rev. Mihailo were published by Podgorica-based Antena M, appeared in the robes of the Metropolitan of Moscow and All of Russia of The True Orthodox Church of Russia under the monastic name of Seraphim.

The aforementioned religious organisation (which is one of the proxies of the Russian intelligence) has developed deep ties with the MOC, including financial ones, according to critics of Bishop Mihailo. On the other hand, the Serbian Church has never even tried to conceal its non-spiritual ties with the Moscow Patriarchate. Based on the briefly opened state archives after the collapse of the USSR, the current Russian Church (ROC) head Kirill Gundyayev, is also a KGB agent who was later awarded tax free business with alcohol and cigarettes.

Much has already been published and circulated about substantial financial and political support of Vladimir Putin and his oligarchs to the project of independent Montenegro. Published audio conversations (covertly recorded) of the then Serbia and Montenegro ambassador to Russia Milan Rocen (and a long time confidante of Milo Djukanovic) have shed a new light on the Russian role in Montenegro’s independence drive. The release of heretofore unpublished recordings were recently heralded by the pro-Russian outlet IN4S. However, the publication of contents which could be potentially harmful to the DPS was stopped – allegedly on orders from the Russian embassy.

Under the DPS and its leader Djukanovic, Montenegro became one of the hubs for Russian spies and Russian organised crime in Southeast Europe. The western press and official reports of the western governments constantly warned about the Russian influence in Djukanovic’s fiefdom. Moreover, in 2011, the DPS signed a strategic agreement with Putin’s United Russia which has never been revoked. The DPS was recently challenged in the Montenegrin parliament to revoke the agreement with the United Russia. However, a DPS MP indirectly ruled it out.

In March 2023, a Russian opposition paper Novaya Gazeta and Transparency International, published a detailed report on the continued influx to Montenegro of Russian dirty capital, spies and intelligence experts for cyber warfare in 2019.

The purchase of real estates, including a cultural heritage site protected by law, and the further entrenching of Russian intelligence could not happen without the blessing of the DPS authorities. Back in 2019, Montenegro was already in NATO and claimed that it was on bad terms with the Kremlin due to so-called coup d’etat attempt in the fall of 2016 in the wake of parliamentary elections. The subsequent televised trial turned into a satirical farce resulting in the first-instance acquittal of all the defendants.

Nevertheless, the subsequent reactions of the prime minister show that the conference was rather used to promote Djukanovic again. Furthermore there are allegations of behind-the-stage efforts to broker a coalition deal for power sharing in the capital city of Podgorica with the political forces of the current president, Jakov Milatovic.

Spajic didn’t turn up at the Forum. He tweeted on X that the conference went “contrary to expectations” and became “mainly a platform for the analysis of local Podgorica election results by prominent experts like Djukanovic and Milatovic. They silenced the foreign guests by bickering against their own country.” According to informal sources, the Government has not wired the money yet. 

The quantity and quality of ACM’s cooperation with similar organisations is also questionable, at least when it comes to the promotion of the aforesaid Euro-Atlantic values. Those values should primarily mean support for democracy, the rule of law and fight against organised crime.

In communication with our paper, the director of the European Center of the Atlantic Council of the USA, Jorn Fleck, emphasises that the ACM and the American Atlantic Council are two completely different organisations. As for the activities of the US Atlantic Council in Montenegro, Fleck says that “one of the Europe Center’s nonresident fellows attended the Western Balkans Growth Summit in May in Kotor. The same fellow was invited by event organisers to attend the inauguration of President Milatovic”. Furthermore, “in 2019, the Atlantic Council took a delegation of Congressional Staffers to the region, including a stop in Montenegro”.

Based on the Ministry of Interior’s decision signed by Radovan Popovic, deputy minister and head of the Directorate for Administrative Affairs, Citizenship and Foreigners, it appears that Belarus is a democratic country where life is safe and full of opportunities. Popovic in his decision UP I-132/23-6651/3 dated 5 June 2024, has rejected the request for international protection filed by V.I (citizen of Belarus) because “there is no justified fear of persecution” in his home country

The High Court in Belgrade recently ruled again that Andrei Gnyot, a Belarusian film director, journalist and opposition activist, should be extradited to the totalitarian regime in Minsk based on the Interpol warrant issued by Belarus. He was arrested at the Belgrade airport on 30 October last year where he flew from Thailand. He was immediately taken into extradition custody to the Central Prison (CZ) in Belgrade. He left Belarus in June 2021 upon learning that Aleksandar Lukashenko‘s notorious KGB secret service was ready to go after him for his ties to the opposition. Gnyot is formally wanted for tax evasion amounting to around 300 thousand euros. He never received a hearing summon on the tax evasion accusations in the country. He allegedly committed tax evasion between 2012 and 2018 even though the law that regulates the matter was passed only in 2019. Gnyot rejected those accusations as “politically motivated”. He is one of the founders of the Free Association of Sportsmen of Belarus (FASB), which was set up after the rigged presidential elections in the summer of 2020, which caused massive civic protests and subsequent bloody repression by the regime whose closest ally is Putin’s Russia. FASB led an international campaign which resulted in disqualifying Belarus as the World Hockey Championship host. Moreover, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has suspended the financing of the Belarusian National Olympic Committee (BNOC) chaired by President Lukashenko himself of which the Monitor already wrote about. The dictator took revenge on FASB by declaring it an “extremist organization”. The association’s lawyer, Aleksandar Danilevitch, was sentenced to ten years in prison. Retaliation followed against other members of the association, except Gnyot who managed to escape.

In the first judgment (7 December 2023), the High Court panel decided in favour of Gnyot’s extradition. Shockingly, the panel of judges even made a precedent by refusing to hear Gnyot about the charges against him. In early March of this year, the Court of Appeal overturned the decision and sent it back for a new decision. However, on 13 June, the first instance court pronounced the same verdict. The journalist has already announced he would appeal the decision. The only good news for Gnyot is that his prison detention of seven months was commuted to house arrest and confinement in a 20-square-meter studio apartment in Belgrade. International and local human rights organizations condemned the verdict and called on the authorities of Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic to end the persecution of political opponents of Minsk and Moscow who have sought refuge in Serbia.

When it comes to Montenegro, one would expect a better situation for asylum seekers, especially after the fall of the 30-year autocratic government of Milo Djukanovic and his Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) whose role models were Vladimir Putin and Lukashenko. However, Belarusian national V.I. (who asked not to have his full name disclosed) thought so. However, the Ministry of Interior (MUP) proved him wrong. Radovan Popovic, the deputy interior minister and head of the Directorate for Administrative Affairs, Citizenship and Foreigners, considers Belarus a democratic country where life is safe and full of opportunities. The MUP decision has no mention of the ongoing war against Ukraine in which Belarus indirectly joined Putin by putting at his disposal its military bases, weapons, logistics and territory which served as a springboard for early drive on Kyiv. Popovic in his decision UP I-132/23-6651/3 dated 5 June 2024, rejects the request for international protection to the Belarusian citizen because “there is no justified fear of persecution” in the home country.

V.I., whose family already lawfully resides in Montenegro and runs a successful private business, requested protection upon his arrival in Montenegro on 27 July 2023 because of a threat that Lukashenko’s authorities would imprison him for political activism. Namely, after the disputed presidential elections in the summer of 2020, large protests broke out in the country. The wife of V.I. participated while he stayed aside fearing for the wellbeing of his private construction company. However, when the authorities began to violently break up the protests, V.I “couldn’t stay on the side-lines”. In August 2020 he “recorded a 20-minute video post on YouTube” in which he “publicly announced his position… and supported those who are fighting for free Belarus” and “victory of democracy”. He said that “Lukashenko suppressed the protests by shedding blood” and that “the people should reciprocate in the same way”. After a while, in the spring of 2023, his YouTube post was noticed by the authorities and then V.I.’s problems began. Tax inspections and state controls of his company became frequent for no other apparent reason. Moreover, the bank with which he cooperated for over 10 years suddenly denied him access to loans without explanation. After that, a friend in the KGB told him that the secret service found out about his YouTube video and that the problems with the company were not accidental. In July 2023, he received a phone call from the state security which asked him to come to the premises of the KGB. When asked why, he was told that he would find out upon arrival. He immediately bought a ticket to Istanbul and fled to Montenegro via Turkey, leaving his mobile phone with a SIM card in Minsk in case state security tracked his movements through mobile network towers. Later, he learned from a neighbour in Minsk that Lukashenko’s police came to his house to look for him. Then the police contacted his wife and asked about his whereabouts. She replied that they were not together and that he had left for Russia. V.I. is convinced that if he were to return to Belarus “he would find himself in prison” seeing how the authorities treat other entrepreneurs who expressed their views. The available reports of international organisations and western governments (UN, State Department, EU, HRW, Amnesty Int. etc.) contain many well documented cases of torture in Lukashenko’s prisons. The regime’s common practice is to charge dissenters with treason or rather with bribery/corruption so to be more convincing to the public, both domestic and foreign. Detainees are then forced to “confess their crimes” in front of cameras, as was the case of Roman Protasevitch, a journalist and an opposition activist. He “publicly repented” in front of Lukashenko’s television cameras after he was kidnapped from a Ryanair plane. Namely, Protasevich was on the Athens-Vilnius 4978 flight which he was diverted on 23 May 2021 by the Belarusian authorities under the pretext that a bomb had been placed on the plane. Escorted by a MIG-29 interceptor, the plane was forced to emergency landing in Minsk. The journalist and his Russian girlfriend were snatched away and arrested whereas no reported bomb was found on the plane.

However, all these examples of Protasevitch, Gnyot and over 1,400 political prisoners in Lukashenko’s fiefdom were not convincing enough to Popovic, a close associate of the Interior Minister Danilo Saranovic (a high official of the Democrats of Montenegro) since they “do not meet the requirements of Article 3” of the Asylum Law. Neither the fear of V.I. of what might happen to him if he returns home “prevailed enough” to grant him international protection because “there was no element of persecution”. He is also reproached for not seeking asylum in the first transit country, Turkey, which received 3.5 million refugees from Syria, probably on purpose, overlooking that the applicant’s family already lived in Montenegro with a lawful residence and a successful family business. He wouldn’t be a financial liability to the state if he were allowed to stay with his family in the country of refuge.

Popovic claims in the decision he signed, that in accordance with the Geneva Convention and the Directive on Asylum Procedures, “a country is considered safe when, within the framework of its democratic system, there is generally and permanently no persecution, no torture or inhumane treatment…threats of violence”. Nonetheless “even though, to a certain extent, there are violations of human rights in Belarus”, the MUP finds out that V.I. “can return unhindered to the country of origin, and that his life, freedom and security would not be endangered by his return”. Popovic further elaborates that Belarus is an “industrially developed country” and that its main trade partner is Russia, stressing that natural gas largely transits from Russia to the EU (through Belarus). Popovic praises the construction of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline… from Russia to Germany under the Baltic Sea which was completed in 2021 and “is a factor that has a direct impact on the Belarusian economy”. Popovic apparently forgets that Nord Stream 2 has been closed and partly blown up after the beginning of invasion of Ukraine. He doesn’t bother to explain what the gas pipeline has to do with fate of V.I. if he would return home. Popovic also praises Belarus for receiving 2,915 refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR, 143 asylum seekers and over 6 thousand stateless persons. It highlights the successes of the Lukashenko regime in the fight against human trafficking and commends Belarus for being one of the 152 countries that voted for the adoption of the Global Security Agreement. Therefore “in accordance with the above, this institution has concluded that the conditions set forth to constitute persecution in the sense of Article 1A of the Geneva Convention have not been met”. Furthermore, the statement of V.I. makes it “clear that he did not experience persecution given that his allegations are not that egregious” to constitute a serious violation of human rights. It appears that it would be better for V.I. that he first experienced torture in prison as that might convince Popovic (who is also a lecturer at the Police Academy in Danilovgrad) that he was is in danger.

The leader of the Belarusian opposition Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, has been informed about the Montenegrin MUP’s reasoning and denial of asylum. She herself had to flee the country after the Minsk regime refused to recognize her victory in the presidential elections in 2020. Her husband was already in prison before the elections. She was sentenced in absentia to 15 years in prison by Lukashenko’s court. Many democratic governments recognize her as the country’s legitimate leader. Her staff told the Monitor that the opposition in exile had proposed to President Jakov Milatovic and Prime Minister Milojko Spajic to meet with Tsikhanouskaya several times after she had previously met with the governments of Greece and Albania. No response ever came from Montenegro.

Fortunately for V.I. he can appeal Radovan Popovic’s decision before the Administrative Court of Montenegro. V.I. still hopes that he will not have to face the democracy and justice of Lukashenko’s government.

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Is the recent hunt on alleged Russian spies a cunning attempt to conceal the Kremlin ties with people around President Djukanovic? Djukanovic and his chief advisor Milan Rocen are accused of being the prime Russian asset in the country

Montenegro Parliament’s Security and Defence Committee held a public hearing over the recent operation of the country’s National Security Agency (NSA) which allegedly was conducted together with its “western partner services”. Reportedly tens of Russian spies were arrested. However, the public hasn’t heard a single Russian spy name. Only the name of a retired Foreign Ministry official Radomir Sekulovic and his best man came out. Mr Sekulovic was allegedly the head of Russian spy network in Montenegro. At the end, instead of espionage, the aforesaid two men have ended up being charged for illegal possession of a pistol and a few bullets. Some media published “reliable NSA information” that Sekulovic “had confessed everything” and therefore he was spared from indictment. Sekulovic publicly denied the charges. 

Espionage and connections with intelligence services has been a valued business in Montenegro since the Ottoman days and perpetuated under Yugoslavia’s strongman Josip Broz Tito. Although the Montenegrins made up only about 2.5 percent of the Yugoslav population, the share of high-ranking Montenegrins in the security services in post-war Tito’s Yugoslavia was almost ten times the average. When Tito broke with Stalin in 1948 many Montenegrins were sacked and arrested for siding with Russia. The infamous concentration camp in Goli Otok (remote island in Croatia) received a disproportionately large number of Montenegrins. Many ended up there only due to false reports and snitching since those loyal to the Yugoslav regime worked hard to turn in as many “enemies of the people” as possible. The legacy of Goli Otok has left a deep mark in the national identity of Montenegro in the following decades.

The euphoria of working for spy agencies returned big way with the “Anti-bureaucratic Revolution” in Montenegro and its “spontaneous protests” in 1990 organized by the Serbian intelligence service (UDBA) under Slobodan Milosevic and his Yugoslav Army Counterintelligence Service (KOS). The result was the installation of Momir Bulatovic, Milo Djukanovic and Svetozar Marovic to run the puppet regime in Montenegro. In the fervour of Greater Serbian nationalism and the unfolding war, the notorious trio persecuted everyone who was considered pro-western, liberal and democratic. Journalists, human rights activists, opposition leaders and anyone who opposed war, mafia and corruption were regularly labelled as CIA, MI-6, and BND collaborators. On the other hand, Serbia, Russia, and China were role models.

Now, formally speaking, the situation is reverse. Once dominant Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) and its leader Milo Djukanovic cry about “malignant influence” of Russia and Serbia everywhere.  Moreover, they claim that they fight against the new enemies together with “partner services” – the same CIA, BND and others which the DPS once termed as “enemies of Serbian people and Montenegro”. However, the Chinese Communist Party (CPK) remains revered by both President Djukanovic and his archenemies in the Democratic Front (DF). Both Djukanovic and the DF leaders sent warm regards and praises to the Chinese for the recent CPK Congress.

The public hearing before the Parliament’s Security and Defence Committee (SDC) held on October 28 largely resembled the well-known television comedy – Balkan Spy. SDC summoned the recently sacked National Security Agency’s (NSA) chief Savo Kentera and the dismissed Foreign Minister Ranko Krivokapic. The idea was to review the recent NSA operation allegedly conducted with “Western partner services”. According to Mr Krivokapic’s statement at the time of the alleged operation “dozens (of spies) have been apprehended”. At the end, it was much ado about nothing. 

The news outlets further reported that among 28 “Russians” who were declared personae non gratae, several of them were actually Serbian citizens. The first on the list is Vladimir Bozovic, the (pro-NATO) ambassador to Montenegro who was already declared persona non grata in the last days of the outgoing Djukanovic-led government in 2020. Others are Vladimir Mandic–  a former Serbian handball national team player and Dane Sijan – also famous handball goalkeeper in the former national team of Serbia and Montenegro. The list reportedly includes prominent church figures – Podgorica archdeacon Velibor Dzomic and Dajbabe Monastery Abbot Danilo. Dzomic used to coordinate the Legal Council for the Diocese of Montenegro and was often seen in the company of Djukanovic’s tycoons.  In addition to the aforesaid, six employees of the Russian Embassy in Podgorica were expelled. Thus the official embassy staff came down to the ambassador and his chargé d’affaires.

The SDC chairman and one of the leaders of the Democratic Front (DF), Milan Knezevic accused Djukanovic-faithful ex NSA boss Kentera for “targeting the entire Serbian nation and its priests” and added that Kentera was “a registered CIA agent”. Knezevic pointed out that “if anyone should be arrested and interrogated that’s none other than Milan Rocen. He is the chief Russian operative in Montenegro”. Mr Rocen is top Djukanovic’s advisor in charge of his foreign policy and capital investments. He was also the protégé of arrested and then released Mr Sekulovic. 

Former foreign minister Krivokapic accused Knezevic of “following orders from outside”, alluding to official Belgrade and the Kremlin. Knezevic retorted that whoever claimed that he worked for foreign interests is “a damn liar and a scoundrel”.

The former NSA chief Kentera said at the beginning of his testimony that his late father had built a church to St. Sava in Pastrovici, whereas he attended church services when others did not dare (in communist days). He added that “those who have no respect for this state, her institutions and the system should have no business here”. Kentera explained that “all those names were put on the list for a reason”. Kentera, just like Krivokapic before, tried to connect his sacking with the alleged operation against the Russian spy ring. “We started to eliminate the spy network but we were eventually foiled in the middle of it” Kentera said.

Prior to being appointed to head the NSA in a compromise between reformist Prime Minister Dritan Abazovic and his opponent President Djukanovic, Kentera was heading the Atlantic Council of Montenegro (ACofM) for many years. He was often seen in the company of American and other Western diplomats and officials of the Alliance. Kentera-led NGO was formally propagating Montenegro’s NATO accession. ACofM also received generous donations to set up the Digital Forensic Center (DFC), which was meant to fight disinformation and promote Western values. 

However, in mid-September 2021, DFC published a detailed study of Russia’s Influence in the Balkans – The Case of Montenegro. The Study was translated and distributed to foreign diplomats by DPS officials. The contents of the Study on Russian malign influence in Montenegro pretty thoroughly rely on DPS party communiques and the narratives of the former Chief Special Prosecutor Milivoje Katnic (who was previously a loyal military counterintelligence official under Slobodan Milosevic).

The DFC study “studiously” avoided any reference to well-known links of Djukanovic’s and his DPS with Russian intelligence, mafia and oligarchs. DFC conveniently dropped to mention that Russia was the key international player which supported Montenegrin independence back in 2006 and that disgraced Trump’s campaign chief Paul Manafort had been hired with Russian money to campaign for Montenegro’s independence. The DFC pointed to the cooperation agreement of Milan Knezevic’s Democratic People’s Party (DNP- part of the Democratic Front coalition) signed with Putin’s United Russia. On the other hand, the DFC skipped to mention that Djukanovic’s DPS had signed the same strategic cooperation agreement with Putin’s party already back in 2011 and has never revoked it since. Then DPS spokesman Rajko Kovacevic (and later Djukanovic’s chief of staff) said “that DPS does not recognize the (Putin’s) party as dictatorial. United Russia is a party that has 315 out of 450 deputies in the Russian Duma. Thus we are the right address for talks and strategic cooperation and interests that we want to develop”. The DFC also bypassed a large number of State Department reports on Russian money laundering in Djukanovic’s fiefdom and the installation of Russian intelligence agents in the state institutions of Montenegro under Djukanovic-led government. Furthermore, the DFC study does not contain a single word about havoc wreaked in Montenegrin economy by KGB/FSB “investors” who had taken over Podgorica Aluminium Plant (KAP), Niksic Steel Mill and prestigious hotels on the coast. The Russian “investors” walked away with hundreds of millions of euros and left further hundreds of millions of debts – all with the blessing of the supposedly pro-EU and pro-NATO DPS authorities. The property of Oleg Deripaska is still intact and safe in Montenegro even though Deripaska is under Western sanctions introduced after Russia invaded Ukraine in February this year.  

It is also interesting that all To Be Secure (2BS) conferences of the Atlantic Council and Mr Kentera were held in Hotel Splendid. Its founder and majority owner is none other than the former director of the KGB/FSB General Viktor Ivanenko. His ownership is easily verified by a simple check in the public business registry – CRSP. The fact that a retired chief intelligence officer of Russia owns a prestigious hotel chain in Montenegro seems to be totally irrelevant to Kentera’s Atlantic Council and thus unworthy of a single reference in the DFC Study. Moreover, the profile of widely known main hotel guests and tenants who are from the same criminal and intelligence milieu is something that the DFC study chooses not to mention at all. Perhaps this is among the reasons why the main Western embassies have been very silent on the dismissal of pro-Djukanovic Kentera, Ranko Krivokapic and Rasko Konjevic (former defence minister). In informal conversations with Monitor, several diplomats from the old members of the Alliance pointed that the main Russian influence in Montenegro was still exercised through people in Presedent Djukanovic’s inner cirle “because the lucrative ties with the Russian mafia and intelligence are not something that you easily cut off, despite sweet-talking rhetoric”.

Andrija Mandic –another leader of the pro-Russian Democratic Front (DF) indirectly admitted at the public hearing that Russia prefers Djukanovic’s DPS over his political organisation for strategic cooperation whereas his DF is reduced to the role of “useful idiots” (KGB terminology). “While we were fighting the biggest battle to preserve our common state (with Serbia), do you know who was supporting independent Montenegro? Exactly those (Russian) partners of Milan Rocen” adding that the DPS “didn’t mind their help to achieve independent Montenegro… the (intercepted) phone conversations have been published, there’s evidence and now you play completely dumb and point finger at us”. In addition, Andrija Mandic implicitly admitted that during so-called coup d’état trial the Serbian services were actively helping Djukanovic and Katnic (former Chief Special Prosecutor) by supplying them the so called evidence.

Moreover, Mr Mandic compared the current role of Mr Rocen to the role of Tito’s chief intelligence officer, Ivan Stevo Krajacic. He explained that “after Krajacic’s death, Russian agents came to take over his radio station which he used to report to Moscow frequently”. Thus, “what Stevo Krajacic used to be in Tito’s Yugoslavia, now is Milan Rocen in Montenegro”. Mandic added that Mr Rocen is “the main protagonist of (Kentera’s) values” with whom he chases “alleged Russian agents around Montenegro and play double and triple games of all kinds in the security services theatre”. Mandic further revealed what socializing with foreign diplomats looked like from his side during August 2020 elections saying that “the lead person on our list (former PM Zdravko Krivokapic) could hardly wait (after electoral victory) to go to the American embassy and ask what he should do”.

The pro-Djukanovic and the pro-Serbian media in Montenegro have been visibly silent on allegations against President Djukanovic’s chief adviser Milan Rocen that he is the actual head of the Russian spy ring in Montenegro. DPS-controlled media are silent about its ties with Russia, while pro-Serbian portals find it hard to digest that much beloved Putin prefers Milo over Montenegrin Serbs. So far, the Prosecutor’s Office hasn’t responded to direct calls of the Prime Minister Dritan Abazovic and the DF leaders to investigate Rocen’s and Djukanovic’s links with Russia.

Memory of love

Despite the strategic orientation of Montenegro, relations with Russia will always be among the mainstreams of our strategic foreign policy. No one can replace Russia – neither the European Union nor NATO. These are not empty words – Milan Rocen (RIA Novosti 2007)

Jovo MARTINOVIĆ