BELGRADE (Reuters) --- Serbia has detained a number of people
over a suspected plot to sway the outcome of Montenegro's Oct. 16
election, the Serbian prime minister said on Monday, citing
"undeniable and material" evidence found by his country's
security services.Aleksandar Vucic's remarks were the first detailed
Serbian reaction to the arrests on election day in Montenegro of 20
Serbian citizens, including a retired police general, accused of
planning attacks on government institutions and officials.
The vote, in which veteran Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic's party
came out ahead but without a parliamentary majority, was billed as an
opportunity for voters to endorse his pro-NATO and pro-EU stance
instead of pursuing closer relationships with traditional allies like
Serbia and Russia.
Vucic told a news conference that the evidence found included 125,000
euros ($135,975) in cash and stashed uniforms that were to be used in
attacks on Montenegrin state institutions and individuals. Supportive
evidence had been given by detained suspects under questioning, he
said.
Vucic gave no details of the nature of the attacks planned on Oct.
16. He also did not name the suspects Serbian authorities had found,
some of whom were in custody, but said they were not the same as
those arrested in Montenegro.
"We have undeniable evidence that certain individuals, and they
are certainly not those arrested down there, have been following
movements of the Montenegrin prime minister and informing other
people about them," Vucic said, adding that other groups might
yet be found.
"We could not find evidence of involvement by Serbian or
Montenegrin politicians," he added.
Serbia and Montenegro, its tiny neighbour on the Adriatic coast, are
both former Yugoslav republics whose governments are seeking closer
ties with the European Union and NATO against the wishes of some
opposition nationalists and leftists.
Before the election, Djukanovic told Reuters that Russia was
financing the opposition in order to derail Montenegro's imminent
NATO membership. Opposition parties, many also pro-NATO, deny this
and reject the outcome of the "rigged" vote.
Cyber attacks shut down media and party websites and Montenegrin
authorities suspended instant messaging services for much of election
day, saying illegal "direct marketing" - believed to refer
to opposition campaigning - was taking place.
While election observers found that the outcome broadly reflected
"the will of the people", Djukanovic, who has dominated
Montenegro's political life for a quarter for a century, has been
accused of authoritarian tendencies.
His Democratic Party of Socialists, which won 36 seats in the
81-member parliament, is seeking allies to build a majority
coalition, but it remains unclear if other parties will support him.
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