"Officials alleged that the plotters had conspired to take over parliament during the October 2016 parliamentary election, assassinate then-prime minister Milo Đukanović, and install a pro-Russian government in order to halt Montenegro's bid to join NATO.According to the prosecution, the relevant orders had been received by Saša Sinđelić, an Austria-born Serbian citizen previously convicted of murder in Croatia and now acting as a witness for the prosecution, from Eduard Shishmakov (at first referred to by media as Shirokov), who had earlier been expelled from Poland as an exposed officer of the Russian military intelligence.