Balkans

Will Viktor Orbán really march to Brussels and, as he claims, “occupy” the heart of the European Union? The EU’s enfant terrible has clashed with the bloc for years, but he is no Nigel Farage. He doesn’t want to abandon ship; he wants to commandeer the battered vessel and course-correct. …

A Bosnian Serb former martial arts fighter has been posting videos and pictures online, documenting his new life as a volunteer soldier with a Russian unit fighting in Ukraine. BIRN was able to track his posts, following his journey to the frontline.Afew weeks after returning home to Modrica in Bosnia’s …

The Hungarian government pledged political support to Milorad Dodik as it hosted the Bosnian Serb leader in Budapest, saying it would vote against the UN resolution on Srebrenica. But there was no new Hungarian aid announced. The president of the Serb entity in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Milorad Dodik, was in …

Ilaz Bylykbashi, a photojournalist from Kosovo who began work in the 1970s, recounts some of the historic events he captured on camera – including the aftermath of the 1998 massacre of Kosovo Liberation Army fighter Adem Jashari and 58 others. “I had stayed in their Oda (a traditional room for …

On Wednesday afternoon, the Ministry of Construction informed the public that a contract was signed on behalf of the Government of Serbia on the revitalization of the complex of the former General Staff and the Ministry of Defense (formerly the Federal Secretariat for National Defense). The information was only found …

North Macedonia is a country with a past — or no past, depending on your perspective. The landlocked Balkan country’s architecture, history, flag and even its name have all become an ideological battleground, contested by nationalists and Europhiles, disputed by Macedonians and Albanians, besieged by Greece and Bulgaria. Conservatives seek …

After criticising a proposed new defamation law, the EU and US have also condemned a proposed new Bosnian Serb law allowing the entity to designate NGOs as ‘foreign agents’, calling it ‘unacceptable’. The EU and US have criticised plans by Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik, president of Bosnia’s mainly Serb-dominated …

Hungary will always prioritise its shared goals with Serbia over any interest it has in maintaining relations with Kosovo. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s realist and pragmatic approach to international politics and trade was on display last week as Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Hungary to sign off on …

A Bosnian Serb former martial arts fighter has been posting videos and pictures online, documenting his new life as a volunteer soldier with a Russian unit fighting in Ukraine. BIRN was able to track his posts, following his journey to the frontline. Afew weeks after returning home to Modrica in …

A German-Rwanda-sponsored UN resolution proposing to declare July 11 as International Genocide Remembrance Day to commemorate the genocide of more than 8,000 Bosnian Muslims by Bosnian Serbs in 1995 sparked protests and a strong lobbying campaign against its adoption by the President of Serbia and the leadership of the Bosnian …