Conspiracy in Montenegro, witness: The Russians paid me to bring down the government.

A key witness in Montenegro's coup plot trial confirmed before the court that it was paid by Russian intelligence services agents to organise the government's collapse.

A key witness in Montenegro's coup plot trial confirmed before the court that it was paid by Russian intelligence services agents to organise the government's collapse.

The purpose of these efforts, according to Sasa Sindelic, was to prevent the country's NATO membership. According to the prosecution's body, Sindelic is the only person to have direct contact with Moscow's two secret service officers, Edward Shishmakov and Vladimir Popov, charged as organisers of the plot that should be put to life on Election Day, October 16th 2016. At the hearing session aired “live” by several Montenegrin televisions, Sindelic indicated how he had established contacts with Shishmakov and detailed their numerous meetings in Moscow from 2015 to the following, as well as the organisation of the failed coup logistics. One of the messages he received from the Russian a few months before the election said: “Boll. They don't tolerate me anymore. In Montenegro, authorities must be overthrown. Djukanovic and his whole band”. According to investigators, whose data has stemmed from the media, Siddelic has received 200,000 euros from the Russians, and then shared the money with the rest of the group in charge of putting Pucci to life. The trial in Podgorica, held under strict security measures, is described as the biggest process in the Balkan region because of Russian implications for those events. In the past, Moscow has not only been harshly critical of Montenegro's entry into NATO, but not rarely had it threatened the former Yugoslav Republic through Russian officials not to join the North Atlantic Alliance.