Spajic Warns of Hybrid Action From Two Regional States

Montenegro’s Prime Minister Milojko Spajic says he has serious operational security information indicating that the announced closing of new negotiating chapters with the European Union will be accompanied by coordinated hybrid action involving officials from at least two states in the region. He made the claim in a post on X on the evening of August 27, 2026, and the portal CdM carried it the following morning. For Serbia, this is not just a regional story: according to the Podgorica daily Pobjeda, sources at the top of the European Commission are pointing to intensified hybrid influence from the region “primarily from Serbia,” while the paper Vijesti reports that the prime minister meant Serbia and Albania. Spajic himself has confirmed neither version, and he did not name any country in his post.

“We have serious security operational information that the announced closing of new negotiating chapters will be accompanied by coordinated hybrid action, involving officials from at least two states in the region,” Spajic said.

He added that, according to the government’s information, such activities are aimed at destabilizing Montenegro, with expected support from certain political actors and parts of the domestic media scene. The trigger is the closing of new chapters in the negotiations with Brussels. The Council of the European Union’s enlargement working group is due to review draft positions on September 1 for closing four chapters, namely 14 (transport policy), 12 (food safety), 18 (statistics) and 19 (social policy and employment), and a decision could come as early as the next Intergovernmental Conference between Montenegro and the EU.

What Brussels Is Saying

According to N1, citing Pobjeda, ambassadors of five key EU member states held emergency consultations in Brussels on Friday on the latest political and security developments in Montenegro. After the meeting, they informally briefed the European Commission on recommendations for protecting the accession process, which call for closing all remaining chapters by the end of the year, alongside accelerated work on the text of the accession treaty.

“In recent weeks, especially in recent days, Montenegro has been facing intensified hybrid influence from the region, primarily from Serbia, the aim of which could be to slow down or jeopardize its European path,” sources at the European Commission told Pobjeda.

N1 adds that the European Commission is speeding up its timeline and is counting on closing all of Montenegro’s remaining chapters by the end of 2026. Srpske novine reported in late July that a draft accession treaty could be ready by the end of September, so the current claim of hybrid action lines up with the exact phase in which Podgorica is pushing hardest to speed up the negotiations.

Milatovic Calls an Emergency Session

President Jakov Milatovic, a day after Spajic’s post, called an emergency session of the Defense and Security Council for Monday, August 31, inviting the heads of the security sector. In a statement, he said Spajic’s claims raise the question of what the relevant institutions are doing about the allegations, as well as about media reports that a senior government official is under the influence of people from criminal structures.

“Additional concern is raised by media reports that a senior government official is under the influence of individuals from criminal structures. The public has the right to know which official is in question and who bears responsibility if such information was known at the time of his appointment or during his time in office, as well as what the competent institutions have done about it,” Milatovic said.

The president also said he expects security matters not to be used for day-to-day political purposes, which he described as the practice of certain structures in the recent past.

“Issues concerning the security and stability of the state must be addressed responsibly, based on facts and through the institutions of the system. In that regard, the President will convene an emergency session of the Defense and Security Council for Monday, August 31, to which he will invite the heads of the security sector and request precise information on all the claims made, as well as a comprehensive assessment of the security situation,” Milatovic concluded.

Zirojevic Wants a Separate Session

Lawmaker Nikola Zirojevic asked on August 28 for Spajic to convene a session of the National Security Council, a body separate from the council called by President Milatovic. He also announced he would seek a control hearing of the prime minister and the heads of the security sector before the Security and Defense Committee.

“The citizens of Montenegro must know where the danger is coming from,” Zirojevic said.

The lawmaker added that it needs to be spelled out whether the danger is coming from two or from at least three neighboring states, and he called on the prime minister to urgently schedule a session of the National Security Council to discuss a strategy for defending against the stated threats.

Until Monday, August 31, when the Defense and Security Council meets, it remains an open question exactly which two states in the region the prime minister meant, and whether the session will produce a single name, or whether Montenegro will enter the talks on its final chapters with an accusation that has no address.