The Montenegrin Front against Djukanovic and NATO

The recently finished elections in Montenegro showed that the last European dictator does not hesitate to keep ahold of his power by any means necessary. The history of Milo Djukanovic’s rule shows that this is a man who is ready to do anything for the sake of personal interests. He has no ethical boundaries. That Milo Djukanovic considers Montenegro to be his personal fief is best illustrated by his current ideology. Milo Djukanovic publicly speaks that his aim is for Montenegro to emerge from its own cultural – historical circle.

This single man, who lived modestly until his arrival in power, has decided to change the history and consciousness of the country’s population. However, the main ideologists of this project are outside of Montenegro. Behind this is primarily the US.

Montenegro has historically been a Serbian state, but now in Montenegro brutal assimilation is carried out against Serbs. Repressive methods that can only be found elsewhere in Europe in Albania and Ukraine are used by the regime in Podgorica to strangle Serbs’ rights to free expression, prohibit the Serbian language and the Cyrillic alphabet, and wage the most serious violence against the Serbian Orthodox Church. Even though Serbs officially make up a third of the population of Montenegro, they have almost no rights. Milo Djukanovic’s main goal is to induct Montenegro into NATO. In his view, anyone who is against NATO is an enemy of Montenegro. In the recent election campaign, Djukanovic also claimed that Russia actively influenced the elections by financing part of the opposition. Any statement by Russian officials in media close to Djukanovic was considered to be interference in internal Montenegrin affairs. On the other hand, when Western officials advise and issue commands to the government and parties, in Djukanovic’s eyes this is normal.

The international field exercises for managing the consequences of emergency situations, codenamed “Montenegro 2016”, were held from October 21st to November 4th. The exercise was attended by about 570 people from 26 NATO and partner countries. It was reported that teams from six member states of NATO and ten partner countries trained in response procedures in the event of a disaster, and practiced how to work together effectively in emergency situations. In reality, this was an “answer” to the “Slavic Brotherhood 2016” exercises with the participation of members of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus, which started on November 3rd and will last until November 9th at the airfields and training grounds of Serbian Army. 212 members of the Russian Armed Forces, 56 members of Belarus’ Armed Forces, and 450 members of the Serbian Army are participating. At the end of the exercises in Montenegro, Deputy General Secretary of NATO Rose Gottemoeller came and said:

“There is no need to accelerate the process, which in itself runs very smoothly, so that, when all formalities are fulfilled, I expect quite naturally that Montenegro will become a member of NATO in the spring of 2017”.

Obviously, NATO does not care what the people of Montenegro think about joining the military alliance. The West holds Milo Djukanovic in its fist. Western intelligence services know of all the dirty deeds that Djukanovic has committed. During the hearing with former prosecutor Giuseppe Scelsi, Tommaso Laraspata in 1998 said that the brother of Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic in those years was inseparable from high – ranking members of the crime clan of Konstantin Sarno. Tommaso Laraspata was a member of the clan Sacra Corona Unita. He was, according to the prosecutor’s office in Bari, a fugitive from Italian justice, who stayed with his brother Rafaele in Montenegro until October 7th 1997, when he fled back to Italy. He was arrested on January 30th, 1998. Konstantin Sarno was arrested in Italy in late May 1997, when he returned to Italy from Montenegro.

At the hearing with Scelsi, the prosecutor who initiated an investigation about the Montenegrin-Italian smuggling ties, Laraspata claimed that Konstantin was constantly working together with “the president’s brother”, who gave him white “caliber” and later 10 million Italian lira. In his statement, he claimed that other mafia bosses from Italy had communication with Djukanovic, that they helped Montenegrin police and the government, and that “they all are mobsters.” To the same prosecutor, the boss of Sacra Corona Unita, Benedeto Stano, said among other things:

“Prudentino knows Brano, and Brano is a relative of Milo, and he is a large mobster there. They all work like that: they are all gangsters. That’s how things are there: and Milo Djukanovic is a mafioso. That is how it works.”

Today, Montenegro is also in the jaws of the mafia. Currently in Montenegro there is mafia war because of 200 kilograms of cocaine that went missing in Valencia in 2014. Conflict between the Skaljari clan and Kavacki clan from Kotor (Montenegro) has been transferred to Serbia, to Belgrade and Novi Sad. This should not be surprising given that the Montenegrin mafia controls the underworld of Serbia. But despite numerous liquidations, the highest police officials in Montenegro are not rotated. Italian journalist and former member of the European Parliament, Julia Keze, said before elections in Monteengro:

“In Europe, there is not much sympathy for Milo Djukanovic. Ms. Merkel has never met with him, which is no coincidence. And you know how much Germany is important in Europe. Neither is France sympathetic, and in Italy no one wants to shake hands with him. In the EU, if Djukanovic would lose, everybody would be satisfied. Only the US would be happy.”

This is one of the reasons why Djukanovic said that he will not be Prime Minister, but instead his close friend, Dusko Markovic, the former head of Montenegrin secret service. However, from the shadows, Djukanovic will continue to pull all the strings. Overall, the whole situation in Montenegro is bad. The security situation in Montenegro is continuously disastrous. From 1992 until today, armed clashes have killed more than 500 people. Almost 50 unsolved murders remain. All of this in a country with only 600,000 inhabitants. Formal unemployment rate is around 20%, but in reality is much higher. The average salary in Montenegro is around 490 euros, but the minimum food cost for a family of four is 805 euros.

The only political entity in Montenegro that can shake Djukanovic`s dictatorship is the Democratic Front. And they are doing this. After a long time, the Montenegrin opposition has opened its doors for the Kremlin. This is what scares Djukanovic. The Montenegrin front today is the struggle for a free and better Montenegro that will not be in the chains of NATO and US.