Russian Intelligence Agency GRU behind attempted coup in Montenegro

According to the Montenegrin Prosecutor's Office Russian Main Intelligence Agency (GRU) are behind the attempted coup in Montenegro.

Riga-based online newspaper and news aggregator in the Russian language Menduza reported that "Eduard Shishmakov, former deputy military attache at the Russian Embassy in Poland, planned the murder of Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic on 16 October 2016".

Montenegro put Eduard Shirokov on the wanted list via Interpol. The Interpol database contains his photograph. On 19 February 2017 Montenegrin Special Prosecutor Milivoje Katnic stated that the real name of one of the plotters was not Shirokov but Shishmakov.

According to Menduza, Shirokov and another suspect, Vladimir Popov, passed 200,000 euros to Serbian nationalist Aleksandar Sindjelic, who had fought in the Donbas on the side of the pro-Russian separatists, in order for him to find people to carry out the coup.

According to Balkan Insight, a publication of the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN), Shirokov worked earlier at the Russian Embassy in Poland and was thrown out of the country for espionage.

In November 2014 a Russian Embassy staffer suspected of working for the Russian Main Intelligence Agency (GRU) was expelled from Poland.
His name was not disclosed at the time. At that time Polish media reported that Shishmakov was a spy but Russian officials denied this

Meduza has found a reference to a staffer at the Russian Embassy in Poland by the name of Shishmakov.

A man described as deputy military attaché at the Russian Embassy in Poland, attending a commemorative event Polish veterans of World War II in 2013, resembling the person of the photograph in the Interpol database.

Jihadist Recruitment Centers Operating From Ljubljana to Tetovo

There are more than 100 Jihadist Recruitment Center operating in the Balkans, most of them in Bosnia-Herzegovina, main Serbian online newspaper Blic wrote.

In addition to Bosnia-Herzegovina, where there are about 64 jihadist training camps, most such cells and recruitment centers are to be found also in Macedonia and Kosovo.

The main Serbian jihadist recruitment stronghold is in Novi Pazar and its environs.

Big Islamist strongholds are to be found in Sjenica, Novi Pazar, Presevo, Bujanovac, and Medvedja.

The two most dangerous recruitment centers in the Balkans are located in Sarajevo and Zenica.

Bosnia-Herzegovina Police listed the village of Podgredina as one of the "most dangerous Wahhabi training spots."

Local people said at the time that they were against Wahhabi's coming to their village.

"The building of this house up in the hill where they worship was financed by some man in Austria and that is where they now congregate. On holidays, there are up to 30 cars up there," one of the local people said.

One of the most notorious Wahhabi strongholds is Gornja Maoca, that is in Bosnia-Herzegovina, where the flag of the Islamic State was even raised at one time.

Jihadist recruitment and training centers have reportedly been discovered also in the environs of Ljubljana in Slovenia, in Rijeka and Split in Croatia, in Gusinje, Plav, and Ulcinj in Montenegro, and in Kumanovo and Tetovo in Macedonia.

Last summer, Novi Pazar's Furqan place of worship (mesjid) was identified as a place where radical Islam was being preached. Serbian security services said at the time that this was not a center where fighters were being recruited for the war in Syria but that through it one could establish contract with the fighters.

Serbian Intelligence Have Blocked and Expelled Russians for Espionage in Montenegro

Belgrade website Dnevni List Danas revealed that "Serbian Intelligence Agencies have blocked and expelled several Russian nationals for involvement and espionage in preparation of terror operations in Montenegro".

Serbian Intelligence Agency (BIA) and prosecution organs had "isolated" a group of about a dozen people suspected of associating on Serbian territory for the purpose of carrying out operations against the authorities in Montenegro.

"Serbian Intelligence blocked Russian nationals equipped with devices to spy Montenegrin PM Milo Djukanovic"

According to some local media outlets “the group were equipped with devices to track the movements of Montenegrin Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic and with apparatus that blocked the Montenegrin Intelligence Services to locate them”.

This group was not arrested yet but “they were deposed and their surveillance equipment, telephone communication jamming devices, uniforms, and about 125,000 euros, among other things, were seized”.

Until now no concrete link was found between this group and the group of Serbian nationals arrested in Montenegro at the time of the 16 October election.

Serbian government has already completed procedures in connection with the Russian nationals that have been expelled from Serbia.