PODGORICA, Montenegro (AP) — Montenegro’s special prosecutor has accused Russia and its secret service operatives of plotting a coup attempt that included plans to kill the small Balkan country’s former prime minister, Milo Djukanovic. Prosecutor Milivoje Katnic said an investigation into the alleged plot last October to overthrow Montenegro’s government and prevent it from joining NATO has shown “that Russian state bodies were involved at a certain level.”

Speaking in a conference call on Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, denied the claim as “absurd” and “irresponsible.”

“There can’t be even talk about any sort of Russian officials’ interference into Montenegro’s internal affairs,” Peskov said. The alleged plot, 'uncovered' last October during Montenegro's parliamentary elections, was said to have been broken up after over a dozen Serbian and Montenegrin citizens were arrested and accused of planning street violence and the assassination of then-Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic, an ardent supporter of the tiny Balkan country's entry into the North Atlantic Alliance. One of the suspects is Eduard Sismakov, an aide to Russia's military attache in Poland who is believed to be the architect of the plot aimed at preventing Montenegro from joining NATO, Katnic said. Serbia deports Russians suspected of plotting Montenegro coup Read more

According to Katnić, a key witness, Aleksandar Sinđelić, a nationalist Serb, was invited to Moscow by Eduard Sismakov, a member of “Russian military structures”, to be cleared for the mission.
A Montenegrin prosecutor accuses Russian authorities of being involved in the October 2016 coup plot in order to halt Montenegro's accession to NATO. Russian officials dismiss the allegations as "absurd."