A scandal erupts in Montenegro with the seizure of assets of Russians
Montenegrin journalist for TV Vijesti Petar Komnenic published information about how, in fact, the country’s government fulfilled the requirement to freeze the property of Russian citizens included in the Western sanctions list in connection with a special operation in Ukraine.
According to him, the competent state authorities of Montenegro froze the assets of only one Russian citizen, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
He stated that this was done despite the fact that the Ministry of Internal Affairs had previously stated that the sanctions included the property of 34 Russian citizens, who owned 44 objects.
Komnenich, citing information from his own sources, stated that there is only one person on the cadastral list with a service mark, instead of 34 Russian citizens subject to restrictive measures against Russia due to aggression against Ukraine, and assessed that the public was “deceived » such behavior of responsible persons.
At the same time, the Minister of Finance in the government of Montenegro, Aleksandar Damjanovic, believes that the Cadastral Directorate of the Minister of Internal Affairs did not deceive the government and the international community, saying that it had frozen 44 properties of 34 Russians. According to him, “nobody deceived anyone.”
Damjanovic explained that Montenegro received a list of 700 individuals and legal entities under sanctions, that this was classified information and that “measures were taken to verify this list and freeze certain assets.”
“By checking the names in Montenegro, it was found that some of the names, as owners of certain properties in Montenegro, coincide with the names that were on the list given in the so-called restrictive measures. After a detailed check of some of these citizens, information was received that, regardless of the coincidence of names, these are not the same persons. No one’s assets were frozen unless they were thoroughly verified,” Damjanovic said.
The Minister of Finance promised that the authorities would check whether there were any mistakes in the actions of the authorities and whether anyone violated the law.
"Nobody complained. Everything will be investigated. If there are violations of the rules, we will punish them,” Damjanovic said.
On April 14 of this year, Montenegro joined the sanctions of the international community against Russia due to the start of a special military operation in Ukraine.
The decision to freeze the assets was announced two months later. The Ministry of Internal Affairs then announced the seizure of real estate from Russian citizens, property owners in Herceg Novi, Budva and Zabljak.
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