India, Oct. 10 -- An influential Russian war blogger and former military officer was arrested on Friday in Montenegro on suspicion of trying to destabilise the country, officials said.

Mikhail Zvinchuk, who previously served in the Russian Defence Ministry's press office, founded Rybar, a Telegram channel with more than 1.5 million followers. He has strongly supported Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Zvinchuk was detained on Friday in a "successful operation," said Milojko Spajic, the prime minister of Montenegro, a Balkan country that was a Moscow ally but is now a NATO member seeking European Union membership.

Spajic said in a statement that "our institutions are doing their job, Montenegro is protecting its interests, and no one will j...