This hearing report has been professionally converted for accurate flowing-text e-book format reproduction. The Senate Armed Services Committee met to receive testimony on the attempted coup in Montenegro and malign Russian influence in Europe. The Ambassador of Montenegro provided the following statement:

We are talking today about one serious destabilizing scenario orchestrated from the outside that fortunately never materialized in Montenegro on the eve of the parliamentary elections that took place in October last year. The plot in question, which virtually amounted to a coup d'etat, now subject of a trial in front of courts in Montenegro, consisted of planned terrorist attacks to overthrow the legitimately elected government and to illegally detain or even assassinate the Prime Minister. In the worst case scenario, if the plans had succeeded, there would have been chaos and serious violence and extremely dangerous instability with intention to undermine the constitutional order and institutions of Montenegro. This would also have been a derailment of the progress of Montenegro and the entire region towards NATO and EU integration, which was a presumed motive for carrying out the entire plot. At this moment, the public trial is ongoing, following months of investigation. The Special Chief Prosecutor in charge of the case has publicly stated that the evidence in this case is undisputable and ironclad.

Indictments that include two Russian nationals—evidence points to that, that they were members of military intelligence services— as well as two leading politicians and MPs [Members of Parliament] from the opposition party, Democratic Front, for conspiracy to form a criminal organization and attempt at terrorist attacks, as well as the acts against the constitutional order and public safety. Nine people so far have admitted their guilt via the plea bargain mechanism. Their confessions were included in the indictment. The witnesses identified one of the Russian nationals, former Deputy Military Attache of Russian Federation in Poland, who was declared persona non grata in that country for acts of espionage, as the organizer of the plot.

This compilation includes a reproduction of the 2019 Worldwide Threat Assessment of the U.S. Intelligence Community.