White House Accuses Russia of Plotting Attacks During Montenegro’s Elections

Calls 'Credible' Allegations Russian Nationalists Wanted to Assassinate PM

The day of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s high-profile Moscow visit, trying to resolve ever-worsening bilateral relations, the White House is continuing to come up with new allegations against Russia, insisting today that they had “credible reports” Russia plotted attacks against Montenegro during their October elections.

The narrative on Russia trying to interfere in Montenegro’s elections is not new, and like most such allegations is based around the idea that opposition positions conflicting with the Western establishment must necessarily be the result of Russian plots. In Montenegro, the divisive election issue was Montenegro joining NATO, which voters were split roughly down the middle on.

Just accusing Russia of not wanting NATO to expand wouldn’t be enough, of course, because Russia publicly says that all the time. Instead, the ruling Montenegro Party is accusing “Russian nationalists” of plotting to assassinate the Prime Minister. The opposition said this was a lie designed to ensure the pro-NATO party remained in power.

As with all the other allegations, this one is missing a key detail: actual evidence it ever happened. US officials however seem eager to once again endorse the narrative, since it is yet another charge to lob at Russia, which seems at this point to be an end unto itself.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.