Today, MANS called on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Montenegro and Minister Đorđe Radulović to publicly announce the draft of the Decision on the introduction of international restrictive measures due to Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, which will contain specific names of persons and companies against whom Montenegro imposes sanctions, and on the Government of Montenegro to adopt it at the next session without delay.
Photo: GOV.ME
It has been three weeks since the beginning of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, and Montenegro is yet to make a formal decision on the imposition of sanctions on Russian natural and legal persons that are on the list of EU sanctions.
Adoption of this decision would operationalize Montenegro’s joining to EU sanctions, which is for now only declarative, and issue specific orders to Montenegrin state institutions, primarily the Ministries of Finance and Economy, then the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Capital Investments, the Central Bank of Montenegro and commercial banks, but also to all the legal entities that have or may have contact with persons or companies from the EU sanctions list.
The implementation of EU sanctions on the territory of Montenegro is especially important when bearing in mind the fact that the territory of our country has been a breeding ground for investing the capital of numerous Russian oligarchs, as well as high political and state officials of the Russian Federation.
For now, there is no precise record of what the property that could be under the impact of sanctions consists of and what is its value, and its establishment is one of the obligations of the Government of Montenegro once the formal decision is adopted. In that sense, the crucial role will be played by the capacities of the Cadastre and State Property Administration and the Revenue and Customs Administration to adequately respond to the requirements to first identify, and then freeze the property.
MANS has already warned about the issue with property hidden behind offshore companies which is not formally kept on the EU sanctions list, and warned about the importance of the so-called register of actual company owners, which the Government of Montenegro has never fully established.
This is the first time that Montenegro introduces the so-called individual sanctions to such an extent, which is why it is important that the draft decision, together with the list of oligarchs and other persons under sanctions, be made publicly available as soon as possible.
Until a formal decision is adopted by the Government of Montenegro, all persons on the EU sanctions list can still freely dispose of their property located in Montenegro, which includes companies, real estate, yachts, cars and other luxury goods, as well as the money on accounts in domestic banks.
Any further delay in the adoption of this decision directly jeopardizes the integration process of Montenegro, and sends a dangerous message that there is room for our country to once again be recognized as a safe haven for dirty capital and oligarchs who are trying to preserve their property under international sanctions.
MANS
