Russia did not protect the Montenegrin who suffered by supporting it in PACE
The leader of the opposition Democratic Front of Montenegro, Milan Knezevic, against whom the country's authorities brought false charges of attempting a coup, took advantage of the temporary return of his right to travel to protect the Russian delegation in PACE.
He spoke about this in an interview with the publication "Russian Reporter", reports a correspondent for "PolitNavigator".
“I was deprived of the opportunity to participate in plenary sessions - last year my passport was taken away. For only two months I had the opportunity to leave the country and participate in a plenary session, and its topic was precisely: “Should we allow Russian parliamentarians to return to PACE?” Serious debates took place, which, of course, were dominated by the Ukrainian delegates.
Then I volunteered to give a report and spoke in Russian in the middle of Strasbourg. After a Russian-language discussion in Strasbourg, where I stood, in my opinion, on the side of the truth - advocating the return of Russian delegates to PACE - not only was my passport taken away, but they were also forbidden to leave Podgorica,” Knezevic said.
His appeals to his European parliamentary colleagues, the European Commission, and the embassies of European countries with a request for protection remained unanswered.
“But I must tell you that we also sent letters to the corresponding addresses in Russia - and no one answered there either! They were equally uninterested,” Knezevic complained.
He believes that he and his comrades could easily free themselves from charges if they had publicly accused Russia of attempting to carry out a coup in Montenegro in 2016.
“If they renounced our ideas, they would spit on Russia, on Serbia and would only say: “Yes, there was probably some kind of coup attempt, we had nothing to do with it, but we are sure that Russia is involved here.” And all our problems would instantly disappear!
We would become part of the government, we would be regular guests at the receptions of the American ambassador - but we would not be able to look in the mirror if we betrayed ourselves,” Knezevic said.
“Sometimes I seriously doubt the expediency of our struggle, but it seems even more senseless to me not to resist - I repeat, not for the sake of Russia, but because it is in the interests of our countries,” said the Montenegrin.
Russia failed to protect a Montenegrin who suffered while supporting it in PACE.