Who is waging hybrid attacks on Montenegro? The spy thriller leaves one suspect

Montenegro’s government says its push toward European Union membership could face coordinated hybrid pressure from at least two countries in the region, yet the prime minister has named neither one.

Prime Minister Milojko Spajić said Montenegro had “serious security operational information” that the expected closing of new EU negotiating chapters would be accompanied by coordinated hybrid activity involving officials from at least two regional states. Montenegro aims to close its negotiations by the end of the year and become a full member the following year.

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We have serious security operational information that the announced closing of new negotiating chapters will be accompanied by coordinated hybrid activity involving officials from at least two countries in the region.

Montenegrin media have speculated that Serbia and Albania are the countries in question. Daliborka Uljarević of the Centre for Civic Education said Serbia had a long, publicly documented record of political, media and other influence in Montenegro. She said it was therefore understandable that Belgrade would be the first country people considered.

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I am sure he meant Croatia. I cannot understand which other country it could be.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić rejected that interpretation, saying he was sure Spajić meant Croatia and that he could not identify the other country. Vučić also said he did not know whether Albania was involved. The two leaders have recently proposed to the EU that their countries be admitted more quickly, without veto rights.

Aleksandar Popov of the Centre for Regionalism described that proposal as a renewed alliance between Vučić and Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama. Uljarević questioned whether Croatia and Albania would obstruct Montenegro’s EU path, noting that both are NATO members and that such action would mean alliance members working against another member. The planned meeting of Montenegro’s Council for Defence and Security, called by President Jakov Milatović, was postponed.

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Croatia and Albania are NATO member states, and this would mean all member states acting against a third country within an allied relationship. I am not sure it is really framed that way.