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The current Prime Minister of Montenegro, Dritan Abazović, who has excellent friendly and family-business ties with Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić and Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabić, is further disrupting civil peace in the country with his bad politics. Namely, it is he who promotes political revanchism and who, with his harsh and unbalanced statements, further divides the already polarized Montenegrin society and endangers the safety of Montenegrin intellectuals, journalists and civic activists. Thanks to his pro-Serbian policy and close relations with the Serbian Orthodox Church, negotiations between Montenegro and the European Union have been frozen. Exactly one month ago, in the Montenegrin parliament, he publicly attacked the Montenegrin PEN Center and accused it of spreading 'fascism and nationalism'. On that occasion, he showed a photo of the famous and award-winning Montenegrin writer Milorad Popović, a member of the Montenegrin PEN Center, and characterized him as a promoter of nationalist politics who "serves the interests of crime." Prime Minister Dritan Abazović directed the same qualifications at the expense of another well-known and currently most translated Montenegrin writer, also a member of the Montenegrin PEN Center, Andrej Nikolaidis, calling him a fascist. And do I need to remind you that the Montenegrin PEN Center, Milorad Popović and Andrej Nikolaidis were the first in Montenegro to condemn the Russian aggression against Ukraine and openly support the Ukrainian people, and that both of them are agile critics of Great Russian and Great Serbian politics, as well as the political instrumentalization of Russia and the Serbian Orthodox Church. The case of the Montenegrin PEN Center and the writers Popović and Nikolaidis is just a small illustration of what the government in Montenegro has been doing for the last two years. We are witnessing the persecutions of critical media and journalists, civil activists and the attempts to close and suspend funding of Montenegrin national institutions. For example, as soon as it came to power, the new Government suspended the financing of the Faculty for Montenegrin Language and Literature. While, for the past 2 years, we have continuously witnessed a campaign of public labeling, name-calling and threats to the Montenegrin PEN Center from the highest positions of the executive power, the Government financially supports radical right-wing, pro-Russian and Serbian nationalist associations. The goal of such a policy, besides the silencing of critics and the freedom of intellectuals and writers, is reflected in the long-term effort to assimilate the Montenegrin identity into the Serbian identity and to stop the process of Montenegro's entry into the EU so that it could enter the regional initiative, Open Balkans, which is led by Serbia and which Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov labeled as promising. To make it easier for you to understand what is happening in Montenegro - I will tell you - the same thing that happened in Ukraine until the outbreak of war - Russia does not recognize the existence of the Ukrainian nation, language and culture. Serbia and Serbian political elites do not recognize the existence of the Montenegrin nation, Montenegrin language, literature and culture. Thus - they do not even recognize the existence of Montenegrin writers. That is why we consider it very dangerous because any denial of national identity and culture leads to war. Montenegro is very lucky to have already joined the NATO alliance, but that membership does not guarantee complete security from the outbreak of internal unrest that would destroy any dream that Montenegro would soon find itself in the European Union. That is why I appeal to you to include the case of Montenegro and the attacks of the Montenegrin authorities on the Montenegrin PEN Center and its membership, especially on the writers Popović and Nikolaidis in the annual report of the PEN International. The Montenegrin PEN would send detailed documentation and evidence on this. It would be a significant internationalization of the major problems faced by writers in Montenegro who dedicated their lives to freedom and peace. Thank you for your attention.