A key witness in the judicial process of Montenegrin coup d'etat claims before the tribunal that he was paid by Russian intelligence agents to organize the downfall of Montenegrin government.
The purpose of these efforts, according to Sasa Sindeljic, was to prevent the country's NATO membership. According to the prosecution, Sindeljic is the only person to have had direct contact with two Moscow secret police officers, Eduard Shishmakov and Vladimir Popov, accused of organizing the plot that should take place on election day, October 16, 2016.
At the "live" session broadcasted on several Montenegrin television, Sindelic showed how he had established contact with Shishmakov giving details of their multiple meetings in Moscow from 2015 to the next year, as well as the organizing the logistical of the coup of the state.In one of the messages he received from the Russian a few months before the election is said: "Enough. They do not tolerate me anymore. In Montenegro, authorities should be overturned. Djukanovic with all his gang."
According to investigators, whose data leaked in the media, Sindeljic received 200,000 euros from the Russians and then distributed the money to the rest of the group members charged with the launch of the coup. The Podgorica trial, held under stringent security measures, is considered the biggest process in the Balkan region due to the Russian implications of these events. In the past, Moscow has been not only a fierce critic of Montenegro's entry into NATO but continually has threatened the former Yugoslav Republic through Russian officials not to join the North-Atlantic Alliance..