Milo Djukanovic

Montenegro's ruling DPS party wants its leader Milo Djukanovic to be a candidate in the presidential elections in 2018.

The Podgorica-based daily Pobjeda writes that the DPS main board will meet to consider this by the end of the month - and that the mood "at all party levels" is "unanimously" in favor of Djukanovic running.

Montenegro's veteran political leader Milo Djukanovic, who stepped out from running the government last year, might run for the country's presidency in 2018, some analysts are forecasting.

A key witness in the trial for the alleged election-day coup plot in Montenegro, Sasa Sindjelic, is expected to give evidence before the court in Podgorica on Wednesday - his first public appearance since the launch of the case, which has been shadowed by conspiracy theories.

Montenegro's strongest opposition force, the pro-Russian Democratic Front alliance, has called on other anti-government groups to join its rally on October 24 and mark two years since what it claims was the largest-ever protest in the tiny Adriatic country.

Podgorica Higher Court is expected to decide this week on a request to release three Serbian citizens accused in the coup case, after the Serbian Orthodox Church offered guarantees for their safety and availability to the court.

Montenegro opposition leader Milan Knezevic on Monday pleaded not guilty to charges of plotting a coup, and told the court in Podgorica that he was only there because he was a Serb who opposed Montenegro's membership of NATO.

Former Serbian Gendarmerie Commander Bratislav Dikic said on Wednesday that the coup charges against him had been "invented" - and that he would never have planned to commit a terrorist attack in Montenegro.

The trial in the coup plot case is to resume on Wednesday with the Montenegrin public eager to hear the evidence of the prosecution, which is seeking to prove that the two Russian intelligence agents were involved in a covert scheme to prevent Montenegro from joining NATO.

Two Russian agents, suspected of plotting to kill Milo Djukanovic, have been photographed in Serbia, the Daily Mail, a British tabloid, is reporting.

According to the article, they are Eduard Shishmakov and Vladimir Popov, allegedly members of a Russian secret service - and they were seen in Serbia shortly after "the failed coup (in Montenegro) in October."

The Telegraph published on Tuesday what it said were surveillance photographs "obtained by European intelligence agencies" that could offer "key proof" that Russian intelligence officers plotted a violent takeover of power in the Balkan state last October.