Podgorica Seeks Explanation as Serbia Stops Montenegrins
Montenegro's foreign ministry asked Serbia's embassy for the legal basis for refusing entry to its citizens. Belgrade has not officially explained the measure.
- Montenegro's foreign ministry asked Serbia's embassy for the legal basis for refusing entry to and detaining Montenegrin citizens.
- Around 30 Montenegrin nationals were reportedly held at Belgrade's airport, and about 100 residents of Niksic at the Rance crossing.
- Stepped up checks by Serbian border police from the evening of June 3 created queues at the Gostun, Dracenovac and Dobrakovo crossings.
- Serbian authorities have not officially explained the measure, while the European Commission called for a return to normal procedures.
Montenegro’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has opened diplomatic communication with Belgrade and, according to the dailies Danas and Dan, asked Serbia’s embassy for the legal basis for refusing entry to and detaining Montenegrin citizens. For the first time, the exchange of moves at the border, which until now has run largely through unofficial accounts, has taken the form of a formal diplomatic approach.
Podgorica’s move followed stepped up checks that Serbian border police have reportedly been carrying out since the evening of June 3. According to the portal 021, queues formed at the Gostun, Dracenovac and Dobrakovo crossings, while around 30 Montenegrin nationals were held at Belgrade’s airport, as reported by N1. As of the publication of this article, Serbian authorities had issued no statement confirming or explaining the measure.
What exactly did Podgorica request?
Montenegro’s ministry, according to available accounts, did not limit itself to assessing the situation but asked for a concrete legal framework. The question put to Serbia’s embassy concerns the grounds on which Montenegrin citizens are being denied entry and held at border crossings and at the airport. Danas and Dan report that this is a formal request for an explanation, which raises the diplomatic exchange above the level of routine consular consultations.
The scale of the measure, according to media reports, is not negligible. Beyond the roughly 30 held at Belgrade’s airport, N1 reports that about 100 residents of Niksic were held at the Rance crossing. For now these figures come from media reports and have not been confirmed by an official statement from the relevant authorities on either side.
On the Montenegrin side, the border police, according to the portal 021, stated that traffic at their crossings was orderly.
On the Montenegrin side everything is regular and the Montenegrin crossings are being passed without delays.
Montenegrin authorities thus attribute the disrupted traffic solely to the conduct of the Serbian side, while a Serbian explanation is absent.
Context and the reaction from Brussels
The current tensions follow the earlier return of Serbian citizens, which preceded the stepped up checks on the Serbian side. Several media outlets link the two events and read them as reciprocal moves by Belgrade and Podgorica, but for now that link remains a matter of media interpretation, as neither side officially confirms it.
The European Commission has also stepped in. According to N1, Brussels issued a call for both sides to return to normal border procedures. That reaction shows the event is being followed beyond the region, at a time when relations between Belgrade and Podgorica are under heightened scrutiny.
What is missing for now is an official explanation from the Serbian side. Until it comes, the legal basis for the measure remains a matter of diplomatic correspondence rather than a publicly stated fact. Will Belgrade’s official answer to Podgorica’s request ease the tensions or deepen them further?
