Montenegrin authorities expelled the founder of the Russian military blog Rybar

The founder of the Russian military blog Rybar, Mikhail Zvinchuk, was expelled from Montenegro on Friday, along with his wife and other people arrested in the resort town of Risan, on the grounds that he posed a threat to national security.

Zvinchuk and the other Russian citizens were detained on suspicion of spreading Russian influence and intending to carry out hybrid operations linked to Kremlin propaganda. Montenegro’s police and National Security Agency confirmed the measure, while the Interior Ministry ordered them to leave the country.

The information was also announced by the Rybar channel, which has approximately 1.6 million subscribers and publishes information about Russia’s war against Ukraine. The arrests prompted reactions in Moscow. Dmitry Medvedev accused Europe of conducting a “witch hunt” against Russians and called for the creation of an exchange mechanism to recover Russian citizens.

Zvinchuk, a former employee of the press service of Russia’s Defense Ministry, created Rybar together with Denis Shchukin. According to The Bell, the project was reportedly financed at one point by Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of the Wagner Group.

Zvinchuk is on the British sanctions list for supporting Russia’s war in Ukraine. In 2024, the U.S. State Department offered a reward of up to $10 million for information about people involved in managing Rybar channels, who were accused of promoting Moscow’s political interests ahead of the U.S. presidential election.