Ex-Montenegrin president denies any acquaintance with Epstein, former peace envoy for Bosnia resigns

Đukanović is mentioned in messages that Epstein allegedly exchanged with Slovak politician Miroslav Lajčak, who earlier today resigned from his post as an adviser to the Prime Minister of Slovakia following the publication of his communications with Jeffrey Epstein.

Among the prominent diplomatic roles previously held by Lajčak was that of the European Union’s envoy for overseeing the referendum on Montenegro's independence.

According to Montenegrin media, in one of the messages Lajčak writes that the President of Montenegro "is looking forward to our visit". Epstein replies to Lajčak: "Maybe he should give refuge to Donald (Trump)." Lajčak then writes that "Montenegro is Donald’s weak spot".

In the correspondence, Epstein also sends Lajčak a link to an article about Montenegro from The New York Times and a photograph of Kotor, to which Lajčak replies: "I told you Montenegro is great."

Epstein also asked Lajčak whether Đukanović was the President or Prime Minister of Montenegro, to which Lajčak replied that he was the President.

Some of the messages were exchanged in August 2018, and some on 21 September of the same year.

Đukanović: I did not know Epstein

In response to the correspondence between Lajčak and Epstein, former Montenegrin President Milo Đukanović said that he did not know Jeffrey Epstein.

In a post on X, he also stated that he had never had either direct or indirect communication with Epstein.

"In response to the frequent interest shown by members of the media following the publication of the communications of the late Jeffrey Epstein, I inform you that I did not know Epstein, nor did I ever have any direct or indirect communication with him. Therefore, understandably, I cannot testify to the authenticity of Epstein’s published files, nor to his possible visits to Montenegro."

In the same post, he added that he regretted being unable to meet the expectations of certain media representatives by answering the question of how Epstein came to the conclusion that "Mr Đukanović is a great guy".

"I recommend that, if they happen to meet him somewhere before I do, they be sure to check this and inform the public of his views," Đukanović wrote on X.

Lajčak's diplomatic roles in region

A key figure in the mediation of the post-conflict crises in the Western Balkans, Lajčák acted as Executive Assistant to the UN Secretary-General's Special Envoy for the Balkans from 1999 to 2001. He negotiated, organised and supervised the referendum on the independence of Montenegro in 2006 on behalf of the European Union.

From 2007 to 2009, Lajčak led the mission as High Representative of the International Community and European Union Special Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

From 2020 to 2025, Lajčak oversaw the Belgrade-Priština Dialogue and other Western Balkan regional issues as the EU Special Representative. Since 2025, he acted as advisor to Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico for foreign affairs and national security.

According to the Slovak news agency TASR, Lajčak, former minister of foreign affairs and an adviser to Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD), has condemned the crimes of late US financier Jeffrey Epstein, stressing that had he been aware of the full extent of Epstein's actions in the past, no communication between them would have taken place.

"The US Department of Justice said Friday (30 January) that it was disclosing more than three million pages of documents related to the Epstein case. Several prominent public figures have appeared in the files released so far, including US President Donald Trump, former US president Bill Clinton, and former Slovak foreign minister Lajcak, whose name also appears in the new documents mentioning young girls or the possibility of communication between Fico and far-right US politician Steve Bannon," TASR reported