Montenegro suspects Kadyrov of involvement in an attempted coup
Montenegrin prosecutors suspect that the head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, campaigned for the leaders of the Montenegrin Muslim community to cooperate with the pro-Russian Democratic Front party, which, in their opinion, should lead to a change of power in the country, reported the Russian publication Izvestia.
Podgorica believes that a criminal group including Russian nationalists planned a coup involving the assassination of Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic during the parliamentary elections on October 16, 2016.
It later became known that the group was formed by Eduard Shirokov and Vladimir Popov. 20 Serbian nationals have been detained on suspicion of involvement in the coup. Podgorica is confident that their work was coordinated through Moscow by Serbian nationalist Aleksandar Sindjelic.
Prosecutor Katnic said in February that Russian state agencies have been linked to the failed coup, that Shirokov's real surname is Shishmakov, and that he is a member of Russian Special Services.
During a statement to the television channel Dozhd, Chechnya's Minister for National Policy, Dzhambulat Umarov, called the appearance of Kadyrov's name in the case materials about the preparation of a coup d'état in Montenegro "the fading fantasy of some Western politicians”. According to Umarov, "there was, and could not be, any talk about the current government, about the regime, and even more so about the prospects for seizing power and other terrible things" during the Montenegrin politician’s visit to Russia.
Russia has refused to extradite Ananije Nikić to Montenegro regarding the attempted coup d'etat.