Monument to a World War II War Criminal as Part of a Russian-Serbian Influence Operation (Ljubomir Filipović)
On August 7, 2025, in the village of Gornje Zaostro, Berane municipality, in northern Montenegro, a monument to Pavle Đurišić, commander of the Chetnik movement in Montenegro during World War II, was erected. The installation took place without the permission of the competent authorities, and already that same day, following a stormy public reaction and urgent intervention by state bodies, the monument was dismantled and moved to the yard of the local church. But this did not happen thanks to state intervention, which had been blocked from accessing the scene.
This event is not an isolated incident, but part of a broader strategy of Serbian nationalist activity and an attempt to rehabilitate collaborationist figures of the past. The case in Zaostro raises questions about reconciliation with the past, about the role of the Serbian Orthodox Church (SOC) in Montenegro’s political processes, and about the security challenges caused by such symbolic acts.
Pavle Đurišić was born in 1909 and received his education in the military institutions of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. In the April War of 1941 he was an officer of the Royal Yugoslav Army. After the collapse of Yugoslav defense and the capitulation of the Kingdom, the underage King Peter II and the government went into exile, while officers of the royal army, among them Đurišić, began to gather on Ravna Gora in central Serbia. There a decision was made to continue the fight against the German occupier.
At the first stage of the war the Chetnik movement, rooted in the partisan formations of Serbian nationalists of the 19th century, fought shoulder to shoulder with the communists in the armed uprising against the occupiers. In Montenegro, Chetniks and partisans together took part in the nationwide uprising of July 13, 1941. Đurišić then actively participated in battles against the Italians and initially achieved military successes.
However, after the first victories and the liberation of territories in Montenegro and Serbia (the so-called Užice Republic), a conflict arose between the communist and royalist parts of the movement. The communist partisans chose an open and continuous war against the occupiers, while the Chetniks, led by Draža Mihailović, chose a strategy of counterrevolutionary struggle against the communists and were prepared to cooperate with Italian, and later German, occupying forces.
In Montenegro Đurišić became a key ally of the Italians in the fight against the partisans. His units defended Italian garrisons from communist attacks and were extremely effective at this task. In return, the Italian authorities turned a blind eye to his crimes against the non-Orthodox population of northern Montenegro. There is a large body of documents, photographs and articles in the occupation press that confirm his direct cooperation with the Italian anti-communist militia, of which he was a formal member and from which he received a salary.
When Italy capitulated in 1943, Montenegro came under German control. Although Đurišić offered to cooperate with the Germans, they initially did not trust him. He was arrested and interned in a camp on the territory of present-day Ukraine. After escaping and returning to Serbia he was arrested again, this time in a Gestapo prison, but freed thanks to guarantees from Milan Nedić, the quisling president of the Serbian government, and returned to service as a legalized Chetnik. He received an officer rank in Nedić’s militia with the tacit consent of Mihailović.
Đurišić was then involved in Nazi Germany’s plans to create a satellite federation of Serbia and Montenegro, but this project never received approval from Berlin. Under German patronage he formed the Montenegrin Volunteer Corps, which was formally part of the Serbian Volunteer Corps under the command of Dimitrije Ljotić, a well-known collaborator and ideologue of Serbian nazi-fascism. At the end of the war, attempting to save himself and his men, Đurišić tried to join Montenegrin nationalists gathered around Sekula Drljević. However, misunderstandings with the Ustaše led to a conflict on Lijevče Polje, after which Đurišić was captured and executed.
Đurišić’s military career encompasses open collaboration with the occupiers, a struggle against Montenegrin independence and a series of crimes against the civilian population. His actions resulted in tens of thousands of civilian victims, and at the end of the war he was disavowed even by Draža Mihailović, but not because of collaboration with the occupiers or the crimes he often ordered, but because of his rapprochement with the Montenegrin “separatist” collaborationist movement of Sekula Drljević.
Despite documented collaboration and crimes, a cult of Pavle Đurišić was created within part of the Serbian nationalist emigration after the war, portraying him as an anti-fascist and a loyalist of Mihailović. During the 1990s, in the rise of Serbian nationalism, this cult was revived, and Đurišić acquired symbolic status. In that period a monument was erected in the United States at a Serbian cemetery in Libertyville, and in 2003 an attempt was made to erect a monument in Montenegro on the eve of the restoration of Montenegrin independence.
After the change of power in 2020 and the arrival of political forces close to the Serbian Orthodox Church, efforts to rehabilitate the idea of Montenegro as a Serbian state were renewed, as were initiatives to implement controversial symbols. Parallel to the case in Zaostro, a debate is under way about naming a street in Podgorica after Pavle Bulatović, former Minister of Defense and Interior of Montenegro during the period when the Montenegrin police participated in war crimes on the territory of the former Yugoslavia. The question of restoring the Serbian church on Lovćen, a mountain that occupies an important place in Montenegrin national mythology, has also been raised again.
Metropolitan Metodije of Budimlje-Nikšić, responsible for the northern half of Montenegro, actively participated in the event of erecting the monument in Zaostro, while Joanikije, the Serbian metropolitan for the south of Montenegro, a few months ago glorified Đurišić as a Serbian hero.
The message that Metodije sent during the event in Zaostro — “we will put the monument in the church, let them come and destroy the church” — was an open challenge to state institutions.
In my analysis, published in the journal National Security and the Future several years ago, I noted that Metodije gathers and supports most of the openly pro-Russian organizations in Montenegro, uses hate speech against non-Serbs and brands Serbs who do not accept his ethno‑nationalist vision as traitors. He is connected with the Russian and Serbian embassies, and his metropolitanate openly provides support to nationalist organizations such as the Tvrdoš brotherhood, which does not hide links with mercenaries on the frontline in Russia, and the Chetnik movement from Zaostro. Metodije is a veteran of Serbian army airborne units and a promoter of a belligerent ideology of Saint Sava. He can often be seen in uniform.
At the Zaostro event Vladimir Janković Čorac was also observed, a man who claims to have been a commander in the Russian mercenary group “Wagner” during missions in Africa. Members of the organization “Serbian Royal Army at Home,” led by Dragan Vasiljević from Belgrade, who has an active branch in Budva, were also present. Among prominent members are Slobodan Kasalica and Predrag Lazarević, also known as “montenegro.panteri” on social networks. The organization also includes Mileta Pavićević, the best-known Chetnik activist in Montenegro, who last year attempted to provoke an incident in Cetinje.
Although at first glance they may seem unserious and undisciplined groups, the experience of the wars of the 1990s shows that such actors often receive the dirtiest tasks. In conflicts it is easiest to sacrifice such infantry, and when political leaders are left without them, entire networks collapse.
The state’s response to the events in Zaostro was anemic. The police detained several participants, removed the pedestal and quietly accompanied the relocation of the monument to the churchyard. However, the prime minister and other key members of the government avoided clearly identifying the sponsors and organizers. During the event journalists from two major Montenegrin media outlets were beaten.
The erection and dismantling of the Pavle Đurišić monument in Zaostro is not simply a local incident, but a symptom of a deeper political struggle over Montenegro’s identity. On the one hand are forces that want to preserve the anti‑fascist heritage and the civic character of the state, and on the other those who use historical revisionism and symbolic provocations as an instrument of political influence, relying on the support of Serbia and Russia. If institutions do not show determination, such incidents will repeat, deepening social divisions and increasing the risk of destabilizing the state.