The news that the United States of America imposed sanctions on Miodrag Daka Davidović and Branislav Bran Mićunović caused considerable surprise in Montenegro, due to, as stated, their connection with crime and Russia's malicious influence in the region. Sanctions include the blocking of assets in America, theirs and those of persons close to them.
I am not sure how much this move by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), an agency of the US Department of Finance, will harm the business interests of Mićunović and Davidović because, I believe - if the state authorities did not think about this possibility, Brano and Daka would they certainly are. However, they are experienced people who would not be what they are if they are not always at least one step ahead of events, especially if the events have anything to do with them.
After all, when OFAC places an individual, entity or country on its lists (for example, the "SDN list" - List of Specially Designated Nationals), it means that they are subject to different restrictions. Asset and financial asset freeze measures include the blocking of all funds and assets belonging to an individual or entity on OFAC's lists. One of the measures is a ban on any transactions with entities in the US or entities under US jurisdiction, and travel restrictions may be imposed, which means that Brano and Daka cannot obtain visas to enter the US. Persons and entities on OFAC's lists are often prohibited from conducting certain types of business, including trade and investment, and their access to international financial markets and institutions is restricted.
Well, now, judge for yourself whether and what direct damages Davidović and Mićunović will suffer from these sanctions.
When it comes to Montenegro, more precisely the current government, the situation is completely different because, as many times before, OFAC's actions are, in fact, a political message par excellence. There is no reason why it should not be the same in this case.
On the contrary.
What is quite certain is that future meetings of Montenegrin officials with American colleagues, but not only with them, will begin or end with the question: A, Daka and Brano? In which, quite often, a folder labeled "top secret" will gently slide from one side of the table to the other.
The political context can be read, first of all, in the momentum when this measure of the American administration was disclosed. Everything can be said about Bran Mićunović and Daka Davidović, except that they were not (were) known to the domestic and foreign public, as well as to the US services, whose job description includes that segment of the social reality of Montenegro and the region. Sanctions against these two, if we judge according to the official explanation of OFAC, with more or less the same argumentation could have been introduced a year, two or ten years ago, during the period of DPS rule. But they didn't, and the question of why Daka and Brano appeared on the list of this American agency right now is one of the most important segments for analysis that the current Montenegrin establishment would have to deal with.
Although it is certainly not a decisive factor, the persistence to form a government with ZBCG despite more than clear messages from Washington, can be considered the initial trigger for the inclusion of individuals from Montenegro on this list.
At the same time, it is important to know that anyone who thinks that the USA can drag on endlessly with the explanations "the procedure is in progress" and "we are working intensively on it", which is a frequent manner of politicians from the Western Balkans, is grossly mistaken. Americans never put someone on such and similar lists without having a clearly defined desired outcome.
What kind of epilogue the Americans expect is difficult to say at this moment, but if they have not already done so, they will already communicate their expectations to the representatives of the Montenegrin state at the first meeting.
What immediately catches the eye, apart from the timing, is certainly the choice of Davidović and Mićunović. The Americans, obviously, well versed in the current divisions in Montenegro, did not want to take any side in the conflict between "Chetniks" and "Comitas". Careful consideration of the political background of these two only reinforces the general impression that the State Department wanted to send a clear message in this way.
And what can be the most painful for the Spajić Government is that there is a high probability that Montenegro has just opened a new chapter 34 with the OFAC statement, which is not on the official agenda of accession negotiations with the EU. That Chapter could be called "Brano and Dhaka" and it would not be a surprise if the European Commission refers to the OFAC list in its next report. It may or may not be, it all depends on that folder at the beginning of the text.
Bonus video:
