Speaking live from the EU-Western Balkans Summit in Tivat, the Serbian President claimed the 87 deported men were merely overzealous political activists armed with nothing but banners. He slammed Montenegro for leaking passenger data.
In a dramatic pivot aimed at damage control, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić has formally addressed the “Tivat Airport Incident,” admitting that individuals within his immediate political circle made a major operational error.
Speaking directly to reporters on Thursday at the EU-Western Balkans Summit in Montenegro—defying a high-profile boycott recommendation from his own intelligence agency—Vučić sought to strip the brewing regional crisis of its paramilitary undertones.
The President flatly rejected explosive allegations from Montenegrin counter-intelligence that the charter flight carrying nearly 90 Serbian nationals was deployed to execute state-sponsored “hybrid warfare” or security destabilization. Instead, Vučić characterized the entire operation as a poorly planned public relations stunt.
“They came here to create a better atmosphere, to make me feel better, without anyone ever asking for my permission,” Vučić stated, visibly frustrated by the political blowback. “I am the one who will pay the political price because someone from my circle made a very bad judgment call.”
‘They Had Banners, Not Weapons’
The President went to great lengths to dismantle the narrative circulated by Montenegrin media and security officials that the contingent was comprised of dangerous, muscle-bound enforcement squads linked to organized crime.
┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Vučić's Direct Rebuttal on Passenger Profiles │
├────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ • Armed Status: The President emphasized that border police found │
│ absolutely no weapons, batons, or tactical gear on the men. │
│ • Operational Intent: The group's sole logistical mandate was to │
│ unfurl political banners reading "Srbija Pobeđuje" (Serbia Wins). │
│ • Criminal Records: Vučić asserted that Serbian intelligence vetted the│
│ manifest, finding only five individuals with past criminal entries, │
│ insisting the rest were standard political party activists. │
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
While Vučić noted he was prepared to formally extend an apology to his Montenegrin hosts for the diplomatic discomfort caused by the unvetted group, he dismissed the sweeping national security panic as utterly baseless. “They had no weapons, no batons—they had a banner. To talk about destabilization and hybrid warfare under these circumstances is completely nonsensical,” he told the press pool.
Counter-Attack Over ‘Brutal’ Privacy Violations
Despite adopting a partially apologetic stance regarding the logistical blunder, the Serbian head of state quickly shifted to an aggressive offensive, accusing the Montenegrin government of weaponizing state data laws for political theater.
Vučić expressed deep fury over the rapid leakage of the passenger manifest, photograph logs, and surveillance footage of the detained Serbian citizens to regional media outlets. He classified the disclosure as a severe, state-level breach of international privacy protocols.
“The public dissemination of data and recordings regarding these deported individuals is a brutal violation of the law,” Vučić declared sharply. “Who are you to harvest and then expose their personal data to the public?”
The defensive remarks come as European leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, arrive in the coastal town. While Vučić’s concession of “bad judgment” is an attempt to de-escalate the immediate narrative of an orchestrated security threat, the underlying diplomatic friction between Belgrade and Podgorica remains at a dangerous, near-unprecedented high.
