Thomson Reuters
Montenegro Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic at a NATO foreign-ministers meeting in Brussels.
Montenegro has charged 14 people - including two Russians and two Montenegrin opposition leaders - with the attempted coup in October 2016, the Associated Press $4 Thursday.
The high court in the capital, Podgorica, $4 the 14 people were charged with "creating a criminal organization."
The two Russians were also charged with "terrorism."
Montenegrin authorities said the 14 accused attempted to take over parliament, assassinate then-Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic, and install pro-Russian leaders to keep the country from joining NATO.
Montenegro received US approval to join >$4$4 on Wednesday, but it still needs Spain to jump on board.
The two Russian operatives, Eduard Shishmakov and Vladimir Popov, were said to have orchestrated the attempted coup from Serbia. The Serbian government $4 that they were in Serbia and used encrypted phones but allowed them to return to Russia.
They are still at large, and Interpol is $4 for them.
Thomson Reuters Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, April 5, 2017.
One of the indicted Montenegrin opposition leaders, Andrija Mandic, $4 on Thursday that the charges were "a staged political process against the opposition."
Despite their opposition to Montenegro joining NATO, Russia has repeatedly denied any involvement in the attempted coup.
The $4 recruiting and equipping a small force of Serbian nationalists who were to disguise themselves as local police and kill Djukanovic. The plot was uncovered only hours before it was to be set in motion.
Thomson Reuters Riot policemen block a main street after protests in Podgorica, Montenegro, October 17, 2015.
Montenegro's special prosecutor said that the plotters would have mingled with Democratic Front protesters outside the parliament building while the election results were announced.
Then, at the right time, they would have forced their way inside and, during the confusion, $4 on the crowd "so that citizens would think that the official police are shooting at them."
"Had it been executed, such a scenario would have had an unforeseeable consequence," $4 The Telegraph.
The prosecutor $4 that he had "obtained evidence that the plan was not only to deprive of liberty, but also to deprive of life the then prime minister."
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For years, $4 on Montenegro staying neutral, and has repeatedly sought access to its Adriatic ports.
Moscow is $4 of pouring millions of euros into a pro-Russian election campaign run by Montenegro's opposition party, the Democratic Front, months before the coup.
Russia's alleged role in the attempted Montenegro coup is but one example of Moscow's larger aim to spy on and influence the region, according to $4.
Montenegro was invited to join NATO in December 2015. After the US Senate backed its accession, President Donald Trump $4 the ratification early this week.
"Involving Montenegro into NATO is profoundly erroneous, disagrees with fundamental interests of people in that country, and damages stability in the Balkans and in Europe as a whole," the Russian Foreign Ministry $4 on Thursday.