PODGORICA: Police in Montenegro have arrested 20 Serbs suspecting of planning politically motivated armed attacks amid a parliamentary election on Sunday that could determine whether the small Balkan state continues on its Western course or turns back to traditional ally Russia.

Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic is facing the toughest challenge yet to his quarter-century rule and pre-election polls have predicted the closest race since Montenegro gained independence from neighboring Serbia a decade ago.

The parliamentary vote pitted Djukanovic’s Democratic Party of Socialists against a cluster of pro-Russian and pro-Serbian opposition groups that staunchly oppose the government’s pro-Western policies, especially its NATO bid.

Police Director Slavko Stojanovic said those arrested Saturday night came from Serbia and planned to collect automatic weapons to attack state institutions, police and possibly state officials after the vote. He said they were charged of “forming a criminal organization and terrorism.” He said one Serbian is still on the run.

The prosecutor’s office said the group planned to attack people who gather in front of the parliament when the vote results are proclaimed, then storm the building in the capital and declare the victory “of certain parties” in the election. The statement said they also planned to arrest Djukanovic.

Police vans were seen bringing in the handcuffed suspects to the prosecutor’s office in Podgorica, the capital.

There have been fears that violence could erupt on the streets of Podgorica between opposition and government supporters after the results of on Sunday’s vote are announced. The government also said hackers have attacked several web sites, including that of the ruling party.

Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic, meanwhile, hinted that the arrests might have been staged by the government. “It’s a strange day on which all this is happening, that is all I will say,” Vucic said.

The scenic country of 650,000 people, squeezed between the Adriatic Sea and towering mountains, is deeply divided among those who favor and those who oppose Western integration. The outcome of on Sunday’s vote could jeopardize NATO and European Union enlargement in southeastern Europe and could prove decisive in the Kremlin’s attempts to regain influence in the strategic Balkans region.

Russia strongly opposes the expansion of NATO in European ex-communist countries it considers part of its “strategic interests.” The West is wary of Russian influence in the still-volatile region, which was engulfed in bloody civil wars in the 1990s.

Opposition leaders have accused Djukanovic of corruption, nepotism and economic mismanagement and say he is trying to scare voters by suggesting that chaos will prevail if he loses.

Published in Dawn October 17th, 2016