NATO would certainly not like to see the return of retired officers of the National Security Agency (ANB), said a member of the Parliamentary Committee for Security and Defense. Ranko Krivokapić.
Former officials of ANB Zoran Lazovic i Dusko Golubovic they could get high positions in the Police Directorate, after the Government formally adopts the Proposed Rulebook on the internal organization and systematization of the Police Directorate.
One of the three conditions of NATO for the admission of Montenegro - probably the most important - was the reform of the security sector, within which changes were made to the Law on ANB, which prescribed the retirement of some older and controversial agents and officials by force of law.
"As the president of the Assembly, who had the constitutional duty to deal with these issues, I am aware of the facts from our internal systems, but also from the Washington system and the dissatisfaction they expressed towards certain activities of our officials and activities towards their embassies in Montenegro. That was one of the serious problems that hindered Montenegro on its way to NATO and created enormous mistrust. Agreements with the Russian intelligence service were part of that," Krivokapić told "Vijesta".
According to him, a lot of effort was put into first restoring relations with partners to their basic state, and then improving them.
"Consequently, both individually and in general, I am sure that our Euro-Atlantic partners would not like to see the return of officials who, in one way or another, are connected as part of the problem in those relations," Krivokapić said.
For years, the Montenegrin public has been shaken by affairs related to the political and security underground and the conflict between opposing clans.
Head of ANB Vladan Jokovic first, in 2012, he resigned after allegedly monitoring foreign diplomats for many years, including ambassadors and embassies of NATO members, although, according to unofficial information, this practice also existed during the time of Marković, of whom Joković is a staff member.
The current Minister of Police was the first choice of DPS for the position of head of ANB Mevludin Nuhodzic, but he refused that position, conditioning his consent on the departure of controversial ANB officials who were publicly associated with the criminal milieu.
Prime Minister at the time Igor Luksic for the post of head of the ANB he appointed then Bor Vucinić.
Just a few days before the NATO Summit in Wales in mid-2014, when Montenegro's admission was postponed, the American news agency Associated Press announced that between 25 and 50 ANB officers were working for the Russian secret services. Then the first American man for European and Eurasian affairs Hoyt Brian Yee in October of that year, he said that all intelligence services of NATO members and future members, including the Montenegrin ANB, must be freed from all vulnerabilities and external factors that would like to illegally forward confidential allied information to third countries.
In the meantime, at the suggestion of Vučinić, changes were made to the Law on ANB, which is standardized in such a way that it takes care to retire both agents who are controversial for NATO, but also to balance the opposing political and security factions.
At the beginning of December 2014, Vučinić was forced to resign after a conversation with the prime minister Milo Đukanović, despite receiving praise from NATO's Deputy Secretary General in Brussels just 20 days earlier Alexander Vershbo at the meeting where he was together with Marković.
Veršbo then said that the reform of the security sector must be completed, which was practically finalized by the adoption of amendments to the Law on ANB in February 2015, according to which all ANB officials over 50 years of age with 25 years of service, of which at least 15 in jobs where seniority is counted with increased duration, they must be retired.
Lazović, Golubović and around 70 of their colleagues retired in the second half of 2015.
Speculations as to why Vučinić was dismissed ranged from the fact that Marković was not satisfied with his work since 2012, when he was appointed to that position by Lukšić, to the fact that Đukanović resented him for allowing the services of NATO members too much access.
The Rulebook on systematization is awaited
Member of the Security Committee, Predrag Bulatović, assessed a few days ago that Đukanović will try to reduce the influence of Prime Minister Marković by appointing Lazović and Golubović to the police.
"If they get these seats as opponents of (police director Veselin) Veljović, then the group opposed to Duško Marković wants to achieve balance with them. Or both groups in the DPS concluded a truce due to the fact that they were shaken by the "Koverat" affair and the protests, as well as the agreement of the opposition and the "Resist" movement that the formation of a technical government is necessary," said Bulatović.
Last week, the Government's Commission for the Political System sent back to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Police Directorate (UP) the draft rulebook on the internal organization and systematization of the UP, although it was supposed to be adopted at the Government session on Thursday.
Lazović is supposed to be an assistant in the UP for the "special department", that is, for the most serious crimes of organized crime and corruption, which he would deal with together with SDT Milivoj Katnić, with whom he is allegedly a brother.
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