Kotor

The country, which has been run by the same party for the past three decades, has a long record of restricting human rights and violating data privacy rights.

Activists fear the government will exploit the COVID-19 pandemic to clamp down further. The government says its overriding priority is to protect the lives and health of Montenegrin citizens.

Greek law enforcement officials are planning to visit Serbia in the immediate future to discuss the murder of Montenegrins Igor Dedovic and Stevan Stamatovic, who were gunned down at a taverna in the seaside resort of Vari in Attica last Sunday.

The presidents of Italy and Montenegro ceremonially turned on an undersea power cable connecting the two countries via the Adriatic sea on Friday, making Montenegro a Balkan energy hub at the flick of a switch.

Dusan Varda recalls strolling through the Old City of Kotor one late-autumn evening last year.

"There was almost no one but waiters in smoothly ironed uniforms in empty, now mainly luxurious restaurants - this is now the typical image of Kotor in the off-season," he said, lamenting what has become of this walled city and its Venetian palaces in Montenegro's fjord-like Bay of Kotor.

Montenegro's tourism business is gearing up for the summer, expecting more Russian tourists than in previous years.

On Thursday, the tourism authorities presented the country's offer at the largest Moscow travel and tourism fair, MITT, saying that, "trends show that more Russian tourists are interesting to visit Montenegro."

Around 4,000 Bulgarians take cruises every year, Rumen Draganov, Director of the Institute for Analyzes and Assessments in Tourism, said.

After five unsolved murders in the last two months, some of them in the coastal town of Kotor or carried out by Kotor crime groups, the government and the security agencies have been accused of not doing enough to protect citizens against criminals who are "more powerful than the state".

The Montenegrin Interior Ministry (MUP) has initiated, ex-officio, procedures to strip the mayor of the town of Kotor of his Montenegrin citizenship.

The reason is that the mayor, Vladimir Jokic, is also a citizen of Serbia.

The Montenegrin Interior Ministry (MUP) has initiated, ex-officio, procedures to strip the mayor of the town of Kotor of his Montenegrin citizenship.

The reason is that the mayor, Vladimir Jokic, is also a citizen of Serbia.

Montenegro has asked for international help to fight wildfires raging along its Adriatic coastline, forcing the evacuation of dozens of tourists and campers, authorities said July 17.