Former long-time head of state, government and Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) Milo Djukanovic He has again avoided taking any responsibility for the scandals and events that have rocked Montenegro during his time in power. Instead, Đukanović has largely characterized these cases as the product of the security and intelligence agencies of Serbia and the European Union (EU) member states, with the aim of discrediting him and dissuading Montenegro from the idea of independence.
"Vijesti"'s interlocutors assess this move by Đukanović as a continuation of his policy of unwillingness to admit guilt for anything, saying that he was the one who, through his undemocratic exercise of power and dubious dealings, provided "ammunition" to foreign services to try to discredit the idea of an independent Montenegro.
Last week, in a three-hour interview with a Montenegrin television station, Đukanović spoke about the scandals and events that captured the attention of the Montenegrin public in the 2000s - cigarette smuggling to Italy, the case of a Moldovan citizen Svetlana Chebotarenko (S. Č. affair), the murder of the editor-in-chief of the daily newspaper "Dan" Duško Jovanović, the “Telekom” affair...
However, Đukanović did not take any kind of responsibility for any of these events, as the man who was running the country at the time. According to his interpretation, the tobacco smuggling and the S. Č. affair were the product of the security and intelligence agencies of Belgrade and the EU, the murder of Duško Jovanović would have caused the most damage to his (Đukanović's) government, while the corruption in the privatization of "Telekom" was - but not in Montenegro, but in Macedonia, which is a claim that the US embassy denied back in 2014.
In addition, for the mistakes he admitted - such as years of collusion with the regime Slobodan Milosevic and attacks on Croatia - Đukanović found ways to justify them. Thus, he blames the adherence to the Milošević regime on "Yugoslav idealism" and the inexperience of those who came to power after the anti-bureaucratic revolution of 1989, although he himself was part of the "young, beautiful and smart", while the bombing of Dubrovnik was a consequence of "absolute media dependence on Belgrade" and the fact that the Radio and Television of Montenegro had only two programs of its own production.
“At that time, information was arriving on a daily basis, even several times a day, mainly from military services, about the regrouping of the Croatian army and their positioning near the border with Montenegro,” says Đukanović, who in the fall of 1991 said that Montenegro “has been attacked these days by Ustasha formations from Croatia.”
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Djukanovic's public relations office did not respond to "Vijesti's" question about whether every affair in which Djukanovic or people close to him were allegedly involved was the product of the work of foreign intelligence agencies.
Tadić Mijović: Blurring the mind
Director of the Center for Investigative Journalism of Montenegro Milka Tadic Mijović, who was one of the founders of the anti-war weekly "Monitor" in the early 90s, told "Vijesti" that at the time they wrote about all the systemic problems that were present - from war crimes that were sponsored by the Đukanović government, to cigarette smuggling and the S. Č. affair.
"We were certainly not part of the conspiracy, neither of Russia nor of Serbia, because we also wrote about the regime in Serbia. But we were witnesses to very problematic things that were managed by the Djukanovic government," she stated.
Tadić Mijović pointed out that it is impossible that all the scandals during the DPS era were the product of foreign services, but that it is also certain that these foreign services took advantage of the weaknesses of that "kleptocratic" regime to challenge Montenegrin independence.
"Unfortunately, Đukanović gave so much material to these services because he ran a regime at home that was not democratic. Đukanović entered politics in a sweater, and by God, he came out, not only with various expensive watches, but his entire family also acquired enormous wealth, as did the tycoons who completely destroyed our country by taking over state resources," the interviewee emphasized.
She assessed that Đukanović's moves in the first decade of his rule were excellent ground for foreign services to use as an argument against him.
Speaking about the things that the general public perceives as good during Đukanović's rule (independence, NATO membership, opening negotiations with the EU), for which he "took responsibility" in an interview, Tadić Mijović notes that these good decisions cannot obscure all the bad things that happened during the 30 years of his rule.
"We cannot, just because he broke up with Milošević, forget that he was with Milošević... Now those who only see the bright sides of Mr. Đukanović, the entire propaganda he created around himself, are trying to cloud the minds of those of us who remember...", said Tadić Mijović.
Djukic: "Force Majeure" is to blame
Political analyst Stefan Djukic He told "Vijesti" that he did not believe that the profile of a man like Đukanović was ready to admit guilt for anything, adding that even things he labeled as mistakes were somehow attributed to "higher powers."
He stated that Đukanović, by using the standard formulation - "there were mistakes" - showed that there was nothing during his political work for which he was prepared to admit responsibility.
"Probably, if you asked him in a sincere conversation what he considers his mistake, it would be similar to what (the current head of DPS) Danijel Zivkovic "I admitted that it was a mistake of the DPS - that they employed some people who were not loyal enough. In other words, the only mistake was the one that did not yield the expected benefit," Đukić assessed.
Asked how he views Đukanović's finding the culprits for the affairs in foreign intelligence services, Đukić recalled his statement from about 10 years ago, when, regarding the story of the murder of Duško Jovanović, he said that it was the work of services close to the former Serbian president. Vojislav Kostunica.
"It is possible that he then, perhaps on his own initiative, perhaps with the prompting of someone from his PR team, threw that test balloon, it may have been well received by people who see him in a good light, and then it was assessed that it was the best way to create excuses, or rather, to provide, in my opinion, false constructions for something that a large part of the public in Montenegro and an even larger part in the region still accuses him of," concluded Đukić.
The interviewee said that it was interesting to have an interview at a time when the 20th anniversary of independence was being celebrated, and that the anniversary was not the center of the conversation.
"It essentially talks about the life and successes of Milo Đukanović - which means that it is not related to the 20th year of independence, but to him personally," Đukić assessed, asking whether the reason for the interview was any other things, such as Đukanović's decline in popularity, the reopening of the "Telekom" affair, the first-instance verdicts Vesni Medenici i Jelena Perović...
Đukić said that it is certain that the interview did not happen by chance, but that there is clearly some fear.
"Whether it is just a matter of popularity or perhaps some direct legal responsibility - the coming period will show," he pointed out.
Šverc, S. Č. i “Telekom”
As for cigarette smuggling, it was considered a state affair in the late 90s and early 2000s. Former US ambassador to the FRY, William Montgomery, said in an interview with Vijesti last week that the United States knew about the smuggling, but that Đukanović justified it as the only way to ensure the functioning of the government in the fight against Milošević.
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An investigation into Đukanović and his associates has been ongoing in Italy for years. Although the case against Đukanović was closed in May 2009 - investigators claim due to Đukanović's diplomatic immunity, and he because there was insufficient evidence - the verdict established beyond doubt that "Montenegro, for a decade under the government of Milo Đukanović, was a haven for smuggling".
In the S. Č. affair, the Moldovan citizen claimed in the early 2000s that lawyer Zoran Piperović, then deputy chief state prosecutor, had lured her into prostitution, and in her testimony she also mentioned a private "party" on Sveti Stefan, which she claimed Djukanović attended. The case was closed in court in 2003 "due to lack of evidence", and shortly afterwards a decision was made to suspend the investigation.
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When it comes to the "Telekom" case, an investigation by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proved that bribery occurred in Montenegro in that affair.
The SEC lawsuit does not mention names, but uses the phrase "sister of a senior Montenegrin government official." Although the US documents do not mention the name, Montenegrin and international media later speculated, citing sources and documentation, that it was the sister of then-Prime Minister Đukanović, Ana Đukanović.
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The GRU and the 2016 "coup d'état"
In an interview, Đukanović stated that he has no doubt that an action to destabilize Montenegro was prepared on the occasion of the 2016 elections, which included a violent change of government, all with the aim of avoiding Montenegrin membership in NATO.
"We know that representatives of the Russian military security agency GRU were in Belgrade and that they directed the preparation of the coup from there," claims Đukanović.
All defendants in the "Coup d'Etat" affair were finally acquitted of charges in February.
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