Bošković: Abazović is most responsible for Russian cyber attacks on Montenegro

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - Government IT infrastructure has been targeted by cyber attacks for the second time in less than a week. The National Security Agency announced yesterday that coordinated Russian services are behind these attacks, and that Montenegro is in a hybrid war. DPS MP and former Minister of Defense Predrag Bošković, in a statement to CdM, says they have long warned that Russian hybrid influence does not cease and only changes forms.

He believes that the outgoing Prime Minister Dritan Abazović is most responsible for this situation, who, willingly or unwillingly, implements Russian policy in Montenegro by favoring DF cadres, and that institutions that were destroyed to the ground by the apostolic government (led by Zdravko Krivokapić) must be urgently created in order to resist the attacks.

Bošković points out that continuous attacks on critical infrastructure in Montenegro have not ceased since 2014.

“All this has happened before. We will recall the beginning of 2017 when attacks were frequent ahead of formal NATO membership. At that time, mobile networks, as well as the government network, were under attack. Today, five years later, the attacks have intensified on other critical infrastructures such as systems vital for the functioning of everyday activities, such as the government network, the power system network. We have long warned about this, that Russian hybrid influence does not cease and only changes forms,” emphasizes the CdM interlocutor.

We warned, Bošković adds, that the organization of a regional center for combating cyber and hybrid threats, which should be led by the main Russian architect in Montenegro, could put Montenegro in a big problem.

“But unfortunately, Prime Minister Abazović, who willingly or unwillingly implements Russian policy in Montenegro by favoring DF cadres in key positions, is most responsible for the inability to respond effectively to these and similar threats,” Bošković believes.

He believes that Montenegro can count on the help of partners who certainly have significantly greater resources to resist such threats, which we also extensively used during such attacks from 2014 to 2020.

“We warned that the lost trust of our partners during the previous government is the key problem in Montenegro's defense against such and similar attacks. Therefore, institutions that were destroyed to the ground by the apostolic government must be urgently created in order to resist the attacks. Everything else will only lead to further degradation and destruction of our country,” Bošković concluded in a statement to CdM.

The ANB stated yesterday that such a cyber attack was carried out on Montenegro for the first time.

“It was prepared for a longer period. Critical infrastructure was attacked,” said the ANB, adding that the methodology of the attack is characteristic of Russian services.

Montenegro has been exposed to a new series of organized cyber attacks on government IT infrastructure since the day before yesterday.

Experts from the Ministry of Public Administration assure that they have taken defensive measures in a timely manner.

Prime Minister Dritan Abazović announced last night after the session of the National Security Council that the cyber attacks are directed at Montenegrin institutions and are not at all harmless. He announced that he will also seek expert assistance from international partners.

Abazović, responding to a question about whether it is true that financial demands have been made for the captured data, said that he would not disclose that now because there is no clear data, and that everything that has been published is in the realm of speculation.

Minister of Defense Raško Konjević confirmed that this is the largest attack to date, and that Russian services are behind it.