Detained Filmmakers in Montenegro

We were detained at seven in the morning, at the parking lot near the hotel,

where we planned to get into a rental car and continue on

to a shoot. We arrived in Montenegro via

a border crossing on the

border with Bosnia and Herzegovina by car, and from there,

uh, we actually headed, uh, toward

Kotor Bay. And yesterday, we were calmly filming

churches and local sights in Kotor.

In the morning, we were detained by the police and, as it later

turned out, by the National Security Agency.

Nobody explained to us what we were doing there, uh,

why we were detained. Initially, for three or four

hours

they told us it was just a check. They held us separately.

The only question that concerned any kind of

provocative subject was whether I engaged in recruitment

foreigners in the special military operation in Montenegro. That’s all.

Yesterday, we w-wrote directly through personal

contacts to a representative of the Metropolitanate.

He read this message on Telegram and afterward,

not a word from him. In the morning, we’re arrested.

We were asking for permission, to film not only outside, but inside too.

The Ukrainians, all their requests submitted

for wanted notices, detention, and so on, as a rule,

are ignored by the European Union.

So, to say that we were really going to be

extradited

and,

uh,

they suddenly got scared, I wouldn't, because there is still no legal basis

No law covered that. And, in general, it wasn't clear even to the

police and the FBI what to do with us.

As for the fact that I posed a threat to national

security, I found out

I learned from the evening news broadcast on the radio at

six p.m., when I was already being driven to the airport for

extradition.

I, I consider myself and my team victims

of poli— political

European stupidity.