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Former Russian attache in Warsaw involved in Montenegro coup: report

PR dla Zagranicy
Roberto Galea 14.04.2017 10:19
A former deputy military attache to the Russian embassy in Warsaw, Eduard Sismakov vel Shirokov, has been identified as the ringleader of a plot to murder Montenegro's PM.
KremlKremlFoto: Flickr.com/Larry Koester

Authorities believe Sismakov vel Shirokov is an officer with Russia's Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU), and is accused of operating a network of Serbian and Russian nationalists and paramilitaries who plotted to assassinate Montenegrin prime minister Milo Dukanović in October 2016.

A total of 22 people have been detained in connection with the plot.

The coup attempt was timed to derail Montenegro's accession to NATO, which is expected to be concluded in the second half of 2017.

Sismakov vel Shirokov left Warsaw in 2014 during a series of expulsions of officials by Russia and Poland.

Russia has denied the charges that its nationals were involved in the plot.

In February, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov called the accusations “unfounded”, and that they “haven't been backed by a single fact”.

The spokesman for Russian president Vladimir Putin said: “There can't be even talk about any sort of Russian officials' interference into Montenegro's internal affairs”.

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