Montenegrin police arrest one of the pro-Russian plotters involved in the failed coup d’état . (Photo : Police Directorate of Montenegro)
The names of two Russian citizens, probably spies working for the Russian government, were revealed by Montenegro as masterminds of a failed coup d'état that would have installed a pro-Russia government had it succeeded.
In addition, the Montenegrin government is accusing the pro-Russia Democratic Front, the country's main opposition party consisting of communists and anti-government rebels, of aiding the coup.
Montenegro's Special State Prosecutor's office accused two Russian citizens, Eduard Vladimirovich Shirokov and Vladimir Nikolaevich Popov, of organizing a criminal group with the aim of murdering Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic and installing a pro-Russia government that would have cancelled Montenegro's bid to join NATO or the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
It said both Russians, who have fled to Russia, organized this criminal group in September in the territory of Montenegro, Serbia and Russia. The Russians issued orders to carry out an "undetermined number of criminal acts of terrorism and the murder of highest ranking representatives of Montenegro," said the special prosecutor.
Other accused and arrested putschists are Aleksandar Sasa Sindjelic, Bratislav Dikic, Predrag Bogicevic, Nemanja Ristic, Milos Jovanovic, Mirko Velimirovic, Kristina Hristic, Branka Milic, Milan Dusic, Dragan Maksic, Srboljub Djordjevic, Aleksandar Curovic, Aleksandar Aleksic, Nikola Djuric, Sinisa Cetkovic, Dejan Stanojevic, Milos Acimovic, Ivica Matic and Perica Andric.
Prosecutors said Shirokov and Popov met in Moscow on September 26 with Sindjelic, head of the nationalist Serbian Wolves organization, to arrange the coup d'état. They gave Sindelic 200,000 euros to carry it out.
Some 20 Serbian and Montenegrin citizens, including Sindjelic, were arrested in Montenegro on October 16 in connection with the alleged plot. Shirokov and Popov are in hiding in Russia. It is unclear if Montenegro will ask for their extradition to face criminal charges.
Sindjelic admitted he was involved in the plot hatched by "two nationalists from Russia" whom he had met while fighting for Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine.
It was Sindjelic's job to recruit other plotters; transfer money; provide weapons; buy police equipment (uniforms, shields, batons, body armor, tear gas, gas masks and other equipment) to be used by the plotters members during the attack on the Parliament of Montenegro.
The Serbian Wolves or the Wolves of Vučjak, of which Sindjelic is a member, was a paramilitary unit active in the Croatian War of Independence and the Bosnian War.
On the other hand, Bratislav Dikic (a former Serbian police general), had the job of organizing the criminal gang and recruiting potential rebels.
He was to have triggered a clash against Montenegrin police at a protest rally organized by the Democratic Front. Dikic would have led rebels in seizing the building housing the Parliament of Montenegro and arresting members of Parliament.
Montenegrin prosecutors allege Dikic was given a specially encrypted and hack-proof mobile phone he was to have used to communicate with Shirokov and Popov.
They also claim the Democratic Front supported the aborted coup.
"Along with DF politicians gathered at the rally, they (plotters) would cause clashes with police officers and forcefully enter the Parliament, where they would remain for at least 48 hours and declare the election victory of DF and other opposition parties," said the prosecutors.
As can be expected, Russia denied any involvement in the failed coup d'état, but has taken no action to denounce it or its plotters.
