UNITED NATIONS Russian Ambassador to the United Nations Vitaly Churkin rejected on Thursday Georgian allegations that Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had “blackmailed” UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon over his report on the situation in the Caucasus and threatened to veto the document. 

Romania supports the Greek position in the bilateral dispute between Athens and Skopje about the use of the name Macedonia, media reports said. Speaking after meeting his Greek counterpart Karolos Papoulias in Athens on May 27 2009, Basescu said: “The principle of good neighborly relations represents an obligation for all …

BUCHAREST Romania is committed to the European Union-backed Nabucco gas pipeline, but it will consider other projects if talks do not push forward, leaving a door open to a rival Russian project, a senior official said on Thursday.

A fierce row over the route that the South Stream gas pipeline will take through Serbia has erupted in the city of Nis, after Belgrade backtracked on earlier promises. Local authorities in Nis are demanding written guarantees from the government that the country’s largest southern city will not be left …

The ruling ethnic Albanian party in Macedonia has given a deadline to its bigger coalition partner to solve the burning name row with Greece and move the country’s stalled Euro Atlantic integration forward by the end of the year. “The grace period that (the Democratic Union for Integration), DUI gave …

Romania’s president has canceled a planned trip to Moldova’s capital Chisinau where he was due to take part in the South East European Cooperation Process, SEECP, on 5 June. In a statement late Wednesday, the president’s office said his participation is “no longer current,” due to the events following the …

Kosovo’s foreign minister Skender Hyseni landed in New York Tuesday, beginning a round of over 30 meetings to lobby for more countries to recognise Kosovo’s independence. Since its declaration of independence in February 2008, Kosovo has been recognised by 60 countries around the world, helped by lobbying efforts from both …

PRISTINA, Kosovo Foreign ministers of the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) stopped short of calling for recognition of Kosovo’s independence, but voiced their support for its development. In a resolution approved on Monday (May 25th), the ministers praised “the progress made towards strengthening democracy, by serving peace and stability in …

SARAJEVO, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) High Representative Valentin Inzko visited the Constitutional Court on Monday (May25th) and met with Court President Seada Palavric. “The Constitutional Court of BiH is the institution of the outmost importance which enables BiH authorities to function and act in accordance with the BiH Constitution,” Inzko …

BUCHAREST Despite existing disputes, the European Union (EU) should continue to seek cooperation with Russia in an atmosphere “not of influence, but of trust,” Romanian President Traian Basescu said here on Tuesday.