MI6 sounded the alarm over Zvinchuk and his team
The entry into Montenegro of Mikhail Zvinchuk, his wife Valeria and three other Russian nationals, who are banned from entering European Union countries and the United Kingdom, went entirely unnoticed by Montenegro’s security service. The information was provided to the National Security Agency by MI6, the British intelligence service
The arrest of Mikhail Zvinchuk, his wife Valeria and three other associates of the Rybar propaganda network took place only after members of MI6, the British intelligence service, alerted the leadership of the National Security Agency and provided information about the entry and movements of Russian nationals belonging to Vladimir Putin’s propaganda network.
Until then, according to information obtained by Television E from international intelligence sources, operational staff at the National Security Agency had been completely unaware that Zvinchuk, a former Russian Ministry of Defence official, was on the sanctions lists of the European Union and the United Kingdom.
They were also unaware that the US State Department had offered a reward of as much as $10 million for information about the Rybar network’s influence on elections in the United States.
THE RYBAR GROUP: MEMMINGEN, SARAJEVO...
- The National Security Agency did not inform the Ministry of Internal Affairs about the dangers posed by Mikhail Zvinchuk and his team’s hybrid activities because the agency itself had no information - an NSA source told ETV.
The source noted that this was precisely why the founder of Rybar was not included on the lists of individuals banned from entering the country at border crossings, and why no appropriate action was taken when the Russian nationals entered Montenegro.
Mikhail Zvinchuk, his wife Valeria and three other members of the Rybar network entered Montenegro last Wednesday, 7 October, from Bosnia and Herzegovina, via Trebinje and the Sitnica border crossing, from where they continued towards the Bay of Kotor.
They had been monitored by British intelligence since 2 October, when they flew from Memmingen, Germany, to Sarajevo. According to sources from international intelligence circles who spoke to Television E, they closely monitored the general elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina on 4 October.
They were particularly interested in the activities of Milorad Dodik and other politicians from the Republika Srpska entity. Zvinchuk forwarded all this information to his contacts in the Kremlin.
...ARRIVAL IN RISAN AND DEPARTURE FROM MONTENEGRO
Five days later, the Russian nationals travelled to Montenegro and checked into the Mövenpick Hotel, formerly known as Hotel Teuta, in Risan. The hotel is owned by the construction company Briv Construction, formerly known as Yu Briv.
On their first day in Montenegro, Mikhail Zvinchuk made contact with several Russian nationals living in the Bay of Kotor. He also met with members of the Orthodox Brotherhood of Miholjska Prevlaka, which was founded some time ago by Archpriest Mijajlo Backović. The Rybar team allegedly intended to produce a special propaganda film about Russophilia in Montenegro.
Zvinchuk was also interested in the position of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Montenegro, particularly the relationship between two metropolitans: Joanikije Mićović, who expressed support for students in Serbia, and Metodije Ostojić, who remained loyal to Patriarch Porfirije Perić’s political stance and his favourable attitude towards Aleksandar Vučić.
British intelligence reportedly recorded all these activities and alerted Montenegro’s National Security Agency only after Rybar submitted a request to film inside Cetinje Monastery and Zvinchuk attempted to contact Metropolitan Joanikije of the Serbian Orthodox Church by telephone.
Montenegrin police then took action, as evidenced by an Instagram post published by the Rybar founder himself on the same day he left Montenegro.
- We were arrested today at 7 a.m., after requesting permission the previous day to officially film our documentary in Cetinje and inside the monastery. We contacted the metropolitan, but he did not respond. The police came in the morning - Zvinchuk explained from Belgrade’s Nikola Tesla Airport.
Zvinchuk travelled to Serbia accompanied by Russia’s ambassador to Montenegro, Aleksandar Lukashik.
INVESTIGATING RUSSOPHILIA OR HYBRID ACTIVITIES?
A source from Montenegro’s security sector told Television E that the Police Directorate’s operation and the arrest of Zvinchuk’s team took place just hours after Rybar requested permission to film inside Cetinje Monastery, and only after the alert from British intelligence agency MI6.
The motives behind the operation remain unknown. What is clear is that the Police Directorate and the Ministry of Internal Affairs used the arrest of the Russian nationals to inform the public, in sensationalist terms, about what they presented as a major and successful operation by the security sector. They subsequently heightened public concern further by announcing that five Russian nationals had been expelled from Montenegro.
It later emerged that the Police Directorate had misled the public: instead of expelling the founder and members of Rybar, described in the article as Putin’s propaganda network, the Police Directorate cancelled their residence permits, which had been valid for 90 days.
The Montenegrin police failed to uncover Mikhail Zvinchuk’s actual mission and role. As a result, senior security officials, including Lazar Šćepanović, Interior Minister Danilo Šaranović and NSA Director Ivica Janović, can do little more than mechanically repeat stock phrases about hybrid threats.
The „Zvinchuk Case“ revealed the true capabilities of Montenegro’s security services - capabilities that do not even extend to the borders of Montenegro.