Montenegro bans Zvinchuk from entry until Oct. 10, 2027

A Russian national who, by his own statement to police, reached Montenegro via Belgrade, Sarajevo and Banja Luka has been banned from entering the country until October 10, 2027. Mikhail Zvinchuk, who runs the Russian Telegram channel Ribar, passed through Serbia as the first stop on that route, so details from the police decision concern the region he traveled through as well. We reported earlier on his expulsion and his landing in Belgrade, and the content of the police document is now known.

What does the police decision say?

In a decision dated October 9, the Southern Regional Border Police Center cancelled Zvinchuk’s stay of up to 90 days and banned him from entering Montenegro until October 10, 2027. His deadline to leave the country was October 10 of this year.

On October 9, at about 7:30 a.m., an immigration inspector in the Tivat area found grounds against his continued stay “for reasons of internal security.” Police cited a provision of the Law on Foreigners under which a stay of up to 90 days can be cancelled if there are grounds of national or internal security. An appeal does not suspend enforcement.

How did Zvinchuk reach Montenegro?

The route comes from his own statement to police, which the Telegram channel also published, so it has not been independently established. Zvinchuk says he entered Montenegro on October 7 as a tourist with his wife Valeria and friends Sergei, Pavel and Kirill. They first flew from Moscow to Belgrade, then went to Sarajevo and Banja Luka, and from there crossed into Montenegro by car.

According to the same statement, they stayed in Risan, and the next day filmed a few shots in Kotor for a documentary. By his account, the plan was to film people representing the religious and traditional part of the population, as well as people who support Russia, “Russophiles from Montenegro.” Zvinchuk also told police that he runs a channel with about a million and a half followers, that he previously served in the Russian army and worked as a translator, that he is not wanted on a warrant, but that he has been banned from entering European Union countries over his views on Russia and his comments on the war in Ukraine.

Police asked him directly, according to the document, whether he had come to gather information on the recruitment of people from the region for the war between Russia and Ukraine. He said he had not, and described the purpose of the trip this way:

“I did not come to Montenegro to report on the Russia-Ukraine war, but solely to portray the residents of Montenegro.”

What does Ribar claim?

The Ribar channel said on Telegram that the crew came officially to make a documentary about Montenegrin Russophiles. “The truth is much simpler. Mikhail Zvinchuk and a film crew came to shoot documentary material about Montenegrin Russophiles, officially, with all the necessary approvals and interview requests,” the post says.

The same post claims that Montenegrin services had a justification for the expulsion prepared in advance, and that nobody was interested in the real reason for the crew’s stay. Ribar also cites lawmaker Milan Knezevic, who, according to those claims, linked the case to EU pressure on Montenegro to pursue an anti-Russian course. The post concludes that “the local leadership’s wish to curry favor with the European bureaucracy dictates the necessary style of behavior.”

What does President Milatovic want?

Jakov Milatovic, President of Montenegro and chair of the Defense and Security Council, was answering a journalist’s question about the detention and expulsion of Russian nationals. For him there is no dilemma about the expulsion itself, but the question of entry remains:

“The question I raised this morning, and to which I would like clear answers from the institutions of our system, is how anyone who is on a sanctions list can enter Montenegro at all. And that happened.”

Milatovic also said that for people on the European sanctions list and the list of Western partners “there is no place in Montenegro,” and that this is why the country always joins sanctions adopted by the EU. He says the Russian nationals were detained, released very quickly and left the country. From the Defense and Security Council he expects answers from the security agencies on “how that happened at all and whether there are currently other persons in Montenegro who are on the EU sanctions list, and who may have entered or are still in Montenegro.”

The president called it “quite strange” that a person with such a profile entered the country at all, and said the authorities reacted only after Zvinchuk announced through his platforms that he was in Montenegro. Together with citizens, he says, he expects it to be established “whether there were any failures in the system.”

How did America react?

U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen, whose delegation visited Montenegro as the third Western Balkans country on its tour, agreed with the president’s assessment. “I think the arrest sends a very clear message,” she said. She says the delegation met Russian influence everywhere: “Wherever we stopped, we saw Russia’s malign influence, disinformation and efforts to undermine the stability of the governments of these countries, that is, of this part of Europe.”

Shaheen said that decisive measures are a message to both Moscow and Washington: “Taking strong action is an important message to Russia and an important message to the United States. I hope we will also take stronger action against Russians who interfere in our affairs in the United States.”