Balkans

After Moldova’s breakaway Transnistria region on Wednesday sought to join Russia, Romania’s President repeated that Romania firmly upholds Moldova’s territorial integrity. As armed clashes worsen in eastern Ukraine, and after parliament in the breakaway Moldovan region of Transnistria on Wednesday formally asked to join Russia, Romania has expressed growing concern …

Amid a tense election campaign in Macedonia, the main opposition party has claimed that the Prime Minister expedited the sale of bank to a shady Serbian businessman for a hefty bribe. Macedonia’s opposition Social Democratic Party, SDSM, has accused Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski of selling Makedonska Banka AD to a …

Four years after official Pristina and Podgorica established diplomatic relations, Kosovo has finally appointed a diplomatic representative in Montenegro. Jafer Ahmeti will take up his office as Kosovo’s charge d’affaires in Montenegro on Thursday. Speaking on Wednesday, he said opening diplomatic missions in Podgorica and Pristina would further intensify the …

The Serbian government and the political party of detained Kosovo Serb leader Oliver Ivanovic, who is accused of war crimes, have launched a petition demanding his release. The Belgrade authorities along with Ivanovic’s Serbia, Democracy and Justice party launched the joint petition on Wednesday, asking the authorities in Pristina to …

Bulgaria is failing to adopt measures to make proper use of potential European funding for the next six years, a report by the National Audit Office argues. Lack of priorities in distributing EU funds between 2014 and 2020 may be one of the reasons why Bulgaria is lagging behind the …

Zdravko Mustac, wanted for his alleged involvement in a political assassination carried out by the Yugoslav secret services in 1983, has been sent to Germany to stand trial. Former senior Yugoslav secret service agent Mustac is being held in a jail in Stadelheim, near Munich, after he was extradited from …

PODGORICA — The Montenegrin Ministry of Foreign Affairs has dismissed as “inappropriate” and “arbitrary” the criticism the country received from the Russian Federation. The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday said the statements made by Montenegrin Prime Minister Milo Đukanović during his visit last week to the Unites States …

BELGRADE — Serbs driven out of Đakovica in Kosovo sent a protest to the Priština authorities for not being allowed to visit their town and property on Good Friday. “The Serbs from the Đakovica region are resentful of the institution in Priština, EULEX and KFOR for being unable to ensure …

Sofia. Prospects for diversification in the energy sector, the implementation of projects of common interest and potential areas for investment were among the highlights of the conversation between Bulgarian Prime Minister Plamen Oresharski and Minister of Energy of Azerbaijan Natig Aliyev, the government information service announced. During the meeting the two …

The construction of the Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria gas pipeline will start in 2015, the Azerbaijani Minister of Energy Natig Aliyev said at a meeting with Bulgaria’s Economy and Energy Minister Dragomir Stoynev. Stoynev said that Bulgaria intends to secure gas supplies from Azerbaijan as soon as possible, ITAR-TASS reports.