Embassy in Montenegro Embassy No staff listed ● host list

DW reported on September 29th that “the Montenegrin authorities have launched an investigation into an unspecified number of people on suspicion of espionage, said on Thursday, September 29, a representative of the Special State Prosecutor’s Office (SDT) of the republic. According to the Podgorica newspaper Pobjeda , the National Security Agency of Montenegro (ANB) and the Special State Prosecutor’s Office detained six Russian diplomats, 30 Russian citizens with a temporary residence permit and two Montenegrins on suspicion of espionage. The publication indicates that among those detained on suspicion of collaborating with Russian intelligence services is Radomir Sekulovich, a long-term employee of the Montenegrin Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who was the press secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs during the state union of Serbia and Montenegro. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Montenegro declared 6 Russian diplomats from the Russian Embassy persona non grata. The actions of these persons are contrary to the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, explained in Podgorica.”

On Friday, March 4th, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) of Montenegro declared a Russian diplomat from the Embassy of Russia in Montenegro as Persona Non Grata (PNG), giving 72 hours for his departure. The MFA said the expulsion was in relation to conflict with the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and was the result of a tip-off from Montenegro’s National Security Agency (ANB) which is responsible for counter-intelligence. As per Balkan Insight this came “after a report in daily Pobjeda on February 26 that two Russian citizens, Victor Antipin and Alexander Perishov, met a senior official from the ruling pro-Serbian Democratic Front, Strahinja Bulajic, currently serving as interim speaker, in Danilovgrad, on February 20. The paper said Antipin and Perishov had both been on the Montenegrin National Security Agency’s radar for least two years.”