UNMIK is making preparations for at least two more years in Kosovo, despite calls from the Kosovo Government to end its presence in the country. The timeframe emerged in a tender from the United Nations Mission in Kosovo, which is ordering in two years of fuel, with the option to …

France will help Kosovo on its path to European Union membership, according to statements issued by President Sarkozy’s entourage. Unnamed sources at the Elysée Palace, the French president’s Parisian residence, revealed that Nicolas Sarkozy had told Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci, in Paris on an official visit, that the country’s …

Albania is heading a series of NATO led naval exercises in the Adriatic Sea, a first for the newly promoted member of the alliance. The war games which include thousands of marines and officers from Albania, Croatia, Slovenia, Greece, Italy and Montenegro, aim to strengthen cooperation between naval forces in …

Ukraine has settled its bill for Russian gas supplies in May ahead of a deadline, state energy company Naftogaz said on Friday, after Russia cast doubts on its ability to pay. Ukraine needed to pay $657 million by Sunday for 2.4 billion cubic metres of gas, including $500 million for …

Russia has made a $500 million loan to Belarus contingent on its recognition of two separatist Georgian regions as independent states, President Alexander Lukashenko was quoted as saying on Friday. But Lukashenko, interviewed by Russian media, said Belarus’s support was not for sale. Relations between the two former Soviet republics …

The U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague said on Friday it would restart the trial of two former Serbian intelligence chiefs next Tuesday after suspending the trial last year due to the ill health of one the suspects. Jovica Stanisic, head of the secret service of late Yugoslav President …

NEW YORK, United States Hague tribunal chief prosecutor Serge Brammertz gave a positive assessment of Croatia’s war crimes co-operation in his regular report to the UN Security Council on Thursday (June 4th).

PODGORICA, Montenegro The heads of eight Southeast European countries adopted a declaration Thursday (June 4th) on managing cultural heritage and making its protection a top priority. Issuing the joint statement were the presidents of Bulgaria, Albania, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Macedonia and Montenegro, following their conference in Cetinje. …

BUCHAREST, Romania President Traian Basescu attended a ceremony Thursday (June 4th) marking the end of Romania’s six-year mission in Iraq. Over the course of it, two soldiers were killed and 12 were injured. Romania deployed 366 troops to Iraq and remained there longer than most other countries in the US-led …

NEW YORK, United States The trial against former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic will begin in late August and will probably last about two years, Patrick Robinson, president of The Hague war crimes tribunal, said on Thursday (June 4th).