PODGORICA/TIRANA, August 29 (BalkanView) — A warning by Montenegro’s Prime Minister Milojko Spajić that officials from at least two countries in the region may be involved in a coordinated attempt to destabilise his country has opened an unusually sharp diplomatic debate with neighbouring Albania.
Spajić said Montenegro had received “serious security and operational information” indicating that its expected closure of additional chapters in negotiations with the European Union would be accompanied by coordinated hybrid activities.
“According to our information, such activities are aimed at destabilising Montenegro, with the expected support of certain political actors and part of the media scene in our country,” Spajić wrote on X.
He did not identify the two countries or provide evidence publicly.
But Montenegrin media reports citing unnamed sources suggested Serbia and Albania were the countries in question, transforming what had initially been a warning about foreign interference into a potentially serious regional dispute.
Albania swiftly rejected any suggestion that it could be involved.
Foreign Minister Ferit Hoxha said Albania “neither is, nor can be” part of a scenario aimed at destabilising Montenegro or any other country.
His intervention underscored the sensitivity of the allegation: Albania and Montenegro are NATO allies, neighbours and EU candidate countries that have generally maintained friendly relations.
A warning tied directly to Montenegro’s EU ambitions
Spajić explicitly connected the alleged operation to Montenegro’s accelerated EU accession process.
Podgorica aims to provisionally close all remaining negotiating chapters by the end of 2026, keeping alive the government’s ambition of achieving EU membership in 2028.
Spajić has branded that objective “28 by 28”.
“Attempts at destabilisation will not change our course or stop Montenegro’s European path, which is greater than the daily interests of any political structure,” he said.
The timing is important.
Montenegro is widely regarded as the most advanced EU candidate in the Western Balkans. As accession moves closer, domestic political disputes, foreign influence and the country’s strategic orientation have become increasingly sensitive issues.
Spajić’s statement suggests his government believes progress towards membership could itself become the target of interference.
What remains unclear is who Podgorica believes is behind it.
Albania: We are not destabilising Montenegro
Hoxha sought to contain the fallout while issuing an unequivocal denial.
Although Montenegro had made no formal accusation against Albania, he said Tirana could not allow speculation to go unanswered.
Albania, he said, could not be involved in destabilising a “neighbouring, friendly country, friend, partner and NATO ally” with which it shares the strategic objective of EU membership.
Hoxha said Albania invests in regional cooperation, understanding, stability and development as well as wider European and Euro-Atlantic cooperation.
He also disclosed that Tirana had been in contact with senior Montenegrin officials, including Foreign Minister Ervin Ibrahimović and Deputy Prime Minister Nik Gjeloshaj.
His message attempted to draw a distinction between what Spajić actually said and how his statement was subsequently interpreted by the media.
That distinction is crucial.
Spajić said officials from two regional countries were involved. He did not publicly identify Albania or Serbia.
The allegation that those were the two countries came from media reports citing sources, rather than from an official accusation by the Montenegrin prime minister.
Former Albanian premier demands answers
That distinction has not ended the controversy in Tirana.
Pandeli Majko, a former Albanian prime minister and a senior figure in the governing Socialist Party, described Spajić’s warning as disturbing.
But Majko said the suggestion in Montenegrin media that Albania was one of the countries involved was even more troubling.
He questioned the implication that Albania could be working alongside Serbia to destabilise Montenegro, arguing that such an accusation would carry serious geopolitical consequences.
For Majko, the issue cannot remain confined to social media.
If Montenegro possesses evidence suggesting involvement by an allied country, he argued, the matter should be handled through formal diplomatic or NATO channels.
“Montenegro must provide explanations if we are facing a regional scandal in which one NATO country is ‘attacking’ another member of the alliance,” Majko said.
Otherwise, he added, Podgorica should acknowledge that the claims amount to unproven, emotional comments on social networks.
His intervention is significant because the criticism did not come only from Albania’s opposition. It came from a former prime minister belonging to the governing Socialist Party.
Opposition turns the controversy against Rama’s government
Albania’s opposition also seized on the dispute.
Gazment Bardhi, head of the parliamentary group of the opposition Democratic Party, said the government should not limit itself to denying involvement.
He called on Tirana to formally seek clarification from Podgorica about whether Albanian institutions or officials had been mentioned in Montenegro’s security information.
For the opposition, the possibility that Albania could even be perceived as coordinating with Serbia against Montenegro raises broader questions about Prime Minister Edi Rama’s regional policy.
Bardhi argued that Albania should strengthen confidence with neighbours seeking a stable, democratic and European region rather than create ambiguity about its relationship with Belgrade.
The opposition has also linked the controversy to other aspects of Albanian-Serbian relations, including discussion surrounding a Serbian consulate in Shkodër.
Those claims form part of Albania’s domestic political dispute and do not establish that Tirana participated in any operation against Montenegro.
Why Albania and Serbia together would be politically explosive
The suggestion that Albania and Serbia could be the two countries referenced by Spajić is particularly striking because Tirana and Belgrade remain divided on one of the region’s most consequential geopolitical questions: Kosovo.
Albania recognises Kosovo as an independent state and is one of its strongest international supporters.
Serbia considers Kosovo part of its territory.
The two governments have nevertheless pursued economic cooperation and regional initiatives over the past decade, most prominently through the Open Balkan initiative.
For critics of Rama, those ties have periodically raised suspicions that Tirana has moved too close to Belgrade.
But cooperation between Albania and Serbia is very different from evidence that the two governments are coordinating a hybrid operation against Montenegro.
No such evidence has been made public.
That gap between the seriousness of the allegation and the evidence available publicly is now at the centre of the controversy.
Montenegro has lived between competing geopolitical currents
Montenegro’s vulnerability to competing regional and international influences is not new.
The country was part of a common state with Serbia until its 2006 independence referendum. Its population remains divided over questions of national identity, relations with Serbia, the role of the Serbian Orthodox Church and the country’s geopolitical direction.
Montenegro joined NATO in 2017 despite fierce opposition from Russia and pro-Russian political forces.
At the same time, parties with close political, cultural or ideological ties to Serbia have remained influential in Montenegrin politics.
This creates an unusual political environment: Montenegro is firmly embedded in NATO and moving towards EU membership, while significant parts of its domestic political landscape maintain close relationships with political and institutional actors outside that Euro-Atlantic consensus.
Hybrid interference allegations therefore carry particular weight in Podgorica.
Two NATO allies now need clarity
The controversy presents Montenegro with a dilemma.
If its security services possess credible evidence that officials from Albania — a NATO ally — are participating in activities intended to destabilise the country, the implications would go far beyond a dispute on X.
It could become an issue for bilateral diplomacy and potentially allied security consultations.
If Albania is not one of the countries referenced by Spajić, meanwhile, Podgorica could quickly defuse the controversy by making that clear.
For now, neither has happened publicly.
Hoxha said communication between the two governments was continuing and warned Albanian political actors against turning foreign policy into another arena for partisan confrontation.
But Majko’s intervention shows that the demand for clarification now crosses Albania’s governing-opposition divide.
The EU race adds another layer
The dispute comes as both countries approach crucial stages in their European integration.
Montenegro wants to close its negotiating chapters and become an EU member in 2028.
Albania has opened all 33 negotiating chapters and aims to complete accession negotiations by the end of 2027.
That makes the suggestion that one candidate could seek to undermine another especially damaging politically.
It would also cut against the EU’s effort to encourage regional cooperation as countries move closer to membership.
For the moment, however, the central allegation remains incomplete.
Spajić says Montenegro has serious intelligence pointing to officials from two regional states.
He has not named them.
Albania says it cannot possibly be part of such an operation.
And politicians in Tirana are now asking a question that Podgorica may find increasingly difficult to leave unanswered:
Who exactly are the two countries?