Chechnya leader ‘incited Montenegro anti-nato coup’

RAMZAN KADYROV, the leader of the Chechen Republic, has been accused of inciting Muslim leaders in Montenegro to help stage a Russianbacked coup to stop the country joining Nato.

MPS Milan Knezevic and Andrija Mandic, from Montenegro’s pro-russian Democratic Front opposition bloc, are on trial with several Serbians for plotting to take over parliament and assassinate then-prime minister Milo Djukanovic before the October 2016 election. Two Russians allegedly organised the conspiracy on behalf of Russian intelligence, The Daily Telegraph revealed in February.

After the plotters’ arrest, an ally of Mr Djukanovic was elected prime minister, and Montenegro joined Nato in June despite Moscow’s objections.

In a letter to Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, Mr Knezevic and Mr Mandic said Mr Kadyrov had been included in the indictment last week. Mr Kadyrov was accused of agitating Muslim community leaders to help the Democratic Front overthrow the government, Izvestia newspaper reported.

“This is a means to discredit the Democratic Front, which was trying to establish economic and cultural co-operation with Chechnya,” Knezevic said.

The Montenegrin special prosecutor’s office had not responded to requests for comment.

The politically charged trial of the alleged coup plotters did hear claims of Mr Kadyrov’s links to the conspiracy at the end of October. Aleksandar Sindjelic, a Serbian conspirator who turned prosecution star witness, told the court in Podgorica he learned of the Chechen leader’s involvement from Eduard Shishmakov, one of the Russian intelligence officers accused of overseeing the plan.

He was told large sums of money had been channelled through Kadyrov to bribe a mufti in Montenegro into forming a parliamentary coalition with the Democratic Front.

Knezevic and Mandic visited Chechnya in January, where they met Dzhambulat Umarov, the minister of national policy, external communications and print.

Mr Umarov told RBC newspaper yesterday that the Montenegrins had not met Mr Kadyrov and had only discussed parliamentary ties, anti-terrorism and religious policy.

Shishmakov, who was expelled from Poland for spying in 2014, and another Russian were arrested in Serbia but reportedly returned to Moscow after the head of Russia’s security council made a surprise visit to Belgrade.

Vladimir Putin’s spokesman has denied any Kremlin involvement in the coup attempt, as have Russian nationalists who have been indirectly linked to the plotters via leaked emails.

Last month, Russia granted asylum to one of the Montenegrin suspects and refused to extradite him.

‘This is a means to discredit the Democratic Front, which was trying to establish co-operation with Chechnya’