Main Intelligence Agency of Russia and its agents were directly involved in the attempted state coup in Montenegro, which had a goal of establishing a pro-Russian government and obstructing Montenegro’s membership in NATO, said executive vice president of the Atlantic Council Damon Wilson, speaking in front of members of the US Senate Committee on Armed Services.
The Committee had a hearing on Thursday on this matter, and Montenegrin ambassador to US Nebojsa Kaludjerovic, Janusz Bugajski and Lisa Sawyer Samp spoke as well.
Wilson said their digital forensics experts presented a “convincing case” on Russia’s involvement, pertaining primarily to Eduard Shishmakov’s connections with GRU.
“His residence address in Russia is a house owned by GRU. He was issued a fake passport in August 2016, two months after he traveled to the Balkans. Had the coup succeeded, it would present a huge blow to the Alliance and its credibility”, Wilson said.
Montenegrin ambassador to the US Nebojsa Kaludjerovic said that Russia’s attitude in this matter and its support to pro-Russian forces was no secret. He said that the institutions of Montenegro managed to resist the pressure due to reforms that were undertaken in the preparation for NATO membership.
He underlined Montenegro’s dedication to the stability in the region and its responsibilities in NATO.
Janusz Bugajski of the Center for European Policy Analysis said that Russia had four channels of influence in the region, namely energetics, political and economic corruption, nationalism and propaganda.
“Moscow could now attempt to turn Serbian leaders in BiH against the Islamic community, or to cause conflicts between Albanians and Macedonians, or between Serbians and Montenegrins”, Bugajski said.
President of the Committee John McCain said that the message to Putin and other dictators is that they cannot control the free will of people anywhere in the world.
Democratic Front DF said that they were going to inform the US Senate on the fact that they have received false statements that were not in compliance with official international documents. False witnesses spoke lies, and DF is set to prove them wrong.
“We will reveal the truth to the international community and show that the state coup was a montage of the leading Balkans criminal Djukanovic and his criminal group”, DF stated.
