Vucic revokes controls, Montenegro border passable again
After enhanced checks on Montenegrin citizens and queues lasting more than six hours, Aleksandar Vucic appealed from Tivat for reciprocal measures not to be applied, and traffic was normalised.
- After Montenegro returned 87 Serbian citizens from Tivat airport, Serbian border police introduced detailed checks on Montenegrin citizens at the Jabuka, Gostun and Spiljani crossings.
- Queues and waiting times lasted more than six hours, with a group of care-home residents from Bijelo Polje and a coach from Kotor among those held at the entry into Serbia.
- Vucic appealed from Tivat for reciprocal measures not to be applied, after which security service officers withdrew.
- By the next morning, interior ministry cameras showed the crossings clear and traffic running normally.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic appealed from Tivat for the country’s authorities not to apply reciprocal measures against citizens of Montenegro, after which, according to regional media, officers of the Security Information Agency withdrew from the border crossings and traffic was normalised overnight. The appeal followed the introduction of detailed checks by Serbian border police at crossings towards Montenegro, which produced long queues and waiting times of more than six hours.
The escalation began after the Montenegrin side returned 87 Serbian citizens from Tivat airport, a development this portal has already covered. In response, checks were stepped up at the Jabuka, Gostun and Spiljani crossings, where Montenegrin citizens were subjected to detailed inspections. According to the 021.rs portal and the daily Danas, waiting times at some crossings exceeded six hours.
What happened at the border crossings?
Alongside ordinary travellers, several groups that Montenegrin media said had nothing to do with the dispute were held at the entry into Serbia. Among those detained were about 20 residents of a care home from Bijelo Polje, as well as a coach from Kotor that was reportedly held for more than five hours. Earlier the same day, around 30 Montenegrin citizens who had arrived on a flight from Podgorica were detained at Belgrade airport.
According to the Klix portal, entry into Serbia was denied to the deputy leader of the URA civic movement, Blazo Radjenovic, and to former Montenegrin police chief Nikola Terzic. Montenegro’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it had opened diplomatic communication through its embassy in Belgrade. These claims were put forward by the Montenegrin side and the media, while no consolidated official statement on the individual cases was issued.
The decisive turn came from Tivat, where Vucic was attending a summit. He delivered his message publicly, distancing himself from the measures Serbian authorities were carrying out.
Our state bodies are acting in line with the rules of reciprocity, but I am asking them not to do so. I am asking them to let the citizens of Montenegro come to Serbia in the most normal way. They are our brothers, our sisters.
This statement represents the position of Serbia’s president rather than a formal decision by the responsible services. According to reports, Security Information Agency officers withdrew from the crossings shortly after Vucic’s appeal, effectively suspending the regime of enhanced checks.
Has border traffic returned to normal?
By the following morning, interior ministry cameras cited by 021.rs showed that the Jabuka and Gostun crossings were no longer congested and that traffic was flowing as usual. That brought to an end, at least temporarily, a situation that had paralysed road traffic at several crossings towards Montenegro during the previous day.
The incident followed a series of moves during the Tivat summit, including Vucic’s earlier message that the passengers returned from Tivat airport were not criminals. The speed with which the measures were introduced and then revoked shows how sensitive relations between Belgrade and Podgorica remain, and how prone they are to sudden escalation.
It remains an open question whether this incident will be followed by a formal diplomatic clarification between the two states, or whether the case will be provisionally closed by the withdrawal of the measures. How do you view the way the crisis between Belgrade and Podgorica was resolved this time?
