The American ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Michael Carpenter said that their observers will “follow very carefully” the early parliamentary elections in Montenegro, due to possible external interference.

“We will pay attention to see if Russia or other actors exert influence in Montenegro. I notice that there is a pattern of Russian malign influence being exercised in the past, including in 2016,” he told Radio Free Europe.

In the parliamentary elections of October 2016, an attempted “coup d’état” was marked.

Carpenter said there was “strong and credible evidence of a conspiracy, which fortunately was discovered and prevented.”

A new trial process against the accused is underway at the High Court in Podgorica.

The new judicial process is a consequence of the cancellation of the previous decision of the Supreme Court, by which two Russians, several Serbian citizens and the leaders of the pro-Russian Democratic Front (DF) in Montenegro were sentenced to several years in prison.