Vucic: It is no secret Montenegrin crime clans planned to get me assassinated

TIVAT - Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Thursday in Tivat, Montenegro, it was no secret that crime clans from Montenegro had wanted to pay someone to assassinate him, and that there was evidence of this in records of communication via Sky ECC, a secure mobile phone application.

On Thursday afternoon, Vucic arrived in Tivat for an EU-Western Balkans summit.

Asked by reporters about threats to his safety, Vucic responded that, in 2021, one of the suspects had offered to pay someone to kill him and that the suspects were leaders of Montenegrin crime clans.

"That is not some big secret. It was also in the Sky records," he added.

"The problem lies in political tensions between Belgrade and Podgorica," Vucic said.

"When there are tensions between Podgorica and Belgrade - and I would say there often are unnecessary political tensions - each side will say the other one is to blame. We would all have to be much more rational and much more cautious, and more careful, but when accusations begin, they just never end. And criminals will do their job, but alright, that is what their job is, there is no big philosophy there," Vucic said.

He also said a group of Serbian citizens who had been denied entry to Montenegro on Wednesday had committed no criminal offence or misdemeanour.

On Wednesday evening, the Serbian Security and Information Agency advised Vucic against travelling to Tivat and warned that activities of crime clans in Montenegro posed a threat to his life.