Covert Photos ‘Prove’ that Russian Military Intelligence Behind Montenegro Assassination Plot and Failed Coup

Covert surveillance photographs obtained by Sky News appear to confirm that Russian military intelligence was behind last year’s attempt to assassinate Montenegro’s prime minister, reported Sky News.

The photos were taken in neighboring Serbia by “unnamed European security service” as part of “an undercover operation in the days following the unsuccessful you in Montenegro,” Sky News reported.

The two Russians shown in the photos, Eduard Shishmakov and Vladimir Popov, are members of Russian military intelligence and are now on trial in absentia in Montenegro for their involvement in the failed coup. The surveillance photos show Shishmakov meeting with a Serbian man who later confessed to his involvement in the coup. In another photo, Shishmakov and Popov were photographed together in a park believed in Belgrade, Sky News reported.

Sky News reports that the two Russians are now believed to be back in Russia.

The two-part plan for the coup involved assassinating the pro-European prime minister Milo Djukanovic and infiltrating a pro-Russian rally on election day dressed as policemen and then firing on the protestors.

Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov called a connection to Russia “absurd” and denied any involvement.