Mikhail Zvinchuk, the founder of the Russian military Telegram channel Rybar, announced on Friday that he, along with his wife and team, was being flown back to Russia.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova confirmed in a comment to TASS that the Russian nationals had been released and were awaiting their flight.

It followed their detention for eight hours in Montenegro by the country’s police and domestic intelligence agency in the coastal town of Risan due to “national security” concerns, as reported by local media.

“We are being deported from Montenegro. We are doing fine, thanks to our embassy and the strong public outcry,” Zvinchuk said in a video statement on Friday evening.

He said that his team was detained at around 7 AM, the day after asking official permission to film a documentary at the Serbian Orthodox Cetinje Monastery.

However, instead of receiving a response from the bishop they had contacted, Zvinchuk said police arrived the following morning, searched their belongings, and confiscated their filming equipment without any official record or procedure.

The Rybar channel thanked Maria Zakharova, the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Second European Department, and Russia’s ambassadors to Montenegro and Serbia for their help in resolving the situation.

Zvinchuk and his team were issued expulsion orders and departed for the Serbian capital, Belgrade, according to Montenegro’s leading daily, Vijesti.

Montenegro, a country of fewer than 650,000 people, has been seeking EU membership since 2008. The Balkan country joined NATO in 2017 despite protests from opponents who recalled the military bloc’s 1999 bombing campaign against Yugoslavia, of which Montenegro was then a part alongside Serbia.