MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia will not hand over to Montenegro the person wanted by the Balkan nation as a suspect in a coup attempt, the RIA news agency cited the Russian prosecutor general’s office as saying on Wednesday.

Montenegro says a group of Serb and Russian nationalists had a plan to attack state institutions on the day of an election last year and kill then-Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic, who held the post for a total of 21 years. The Kremlin has dismissed the accusation as absurd.

The Russian prosecutor-general’s office said it had refused to hand over to Montenegro the person, who it identified as Ananie Nikic, because he had earlier been given refugee status by Moscow.