Release of private conversations and unauthorized eavesdropping are part of psychological and propaganda war against the governing structure in Montenegro, says Professor from Belgrade and security expert, Mr Darko Trifunović. He thinks that Montenegrin institutions, and particularly Prosecutor’ Office, are faced with a new challenge. It is necessary to establish whether the recordings are authentic, and then somebody must answer who recorded the telephone calls, by whose order, and why they were published now.
Mr Trifunović says some clues indicate that the conversations have been recorded by Russian intelligence services. How did they get to the media? The answer is only one. Media and intelligence services cooperate.
Mr Trifunović wouldn’t be surprised if the media released conversations of the president of the state, since Mr Milo Đukanović has always been the main target.
“For years, the same media have been trying to tarnish the image of Mr Đukanović, they have been constantly trying to label him as a criminal. This could produce terrible consequences. Let’s take for example the case of the former Prime Minister of Serbia, Mr Zoran Đinđić and the editor-in-chief of the Croatian Nacional, Ivo Pukanić. Pukanić wrote more than 3.000 texts about Mr Đinđić who was murdered in 2003. Such texts made Mr Đinđić guilty of everything in Serbia. What is going on in Montenegro? I’ve read somewhere that some medium in Montenegro published more than 1.000 negative information about Mr Đukanović for only three months. You draw conclusion yourselves”, points out Mr Trifunović.
He thinks that all this is a classic example of hybrid war and Montenegro has to be ready to respond to it.
“I might be wrong, but seems like your president is left to fight alone against such attacks. Where are all the intellectuals, university professors, professors of political sciences and security? Where are they to point out to all psychological activities undertaken against Montenegro? What about the institutions? Release of private telephone conversations is a crime and it has to be sanctioned”, warns Mr Trifunović.
Such atmosphere has a lot to do with the media.
“If you have media defending terrorists and attacking prosecutors and judges, it’s called complicity. By attacking president, prosecutors and judges, they are shirking responsibility and consciously becoming the tool of foreign services. Media are the source of discord within the governing party, since the opposition proved to be helpless. Therefore, what you have now is a special psychological war. But I believe your leaders are familiar with it and hopefully, they will be able to tackle it”, says Mr Trifunović.
Agency for Personal Data Protection and Agency for Electronic Media aren’t in charge
Dnevne novine spoke to the Agency for Personal Data Protection and Agency for Electronic Media in relation to the release of private conversations. Representatives of the two agencies said that they weren’t in charge of such cases.
Representatives of the Agency for Electronic Media said that providers of electronic publications have freedom in the creation of contents, with respect of standards referring to privacy and dignity.
