Balkans

Moscow is busy selling its own version of the war in Ukraine to Bosnian citizens – cynically using analogies with the 1995 genocide in Srebrenica to justify its invasion and destabilize Bosnia at the same time. “There were literally bodies on the streets. Some of them had just been shot, …

If government instability, public polarisation and a Russian gas cut-off was not enough, 2022 has also brought Bulgaria a new political party sympathetic to the Kremlin. usted as defence minister for refusing to call Russia’s Ukraine war a ‘war,’ on May 5 Stefan Yanev unveiled Bulgarian Rise as Bulgaria’s third …

Our Homeland won six per cent of the popular vote in Hungary’s April election; experts say it represents both a risk and an opportunity for Viktor Orban. In calling for the 1920 Treaty of Trianon – which stripped Hungary of two-thirds of its territory and half of its population – …

A new minority government in Montenegro offers the Democratic Party of Socialists a change to re-establish itself as a force to be reckoned with ahead of elections in 2023. Not even two years since it lost power, the Democratic Party of Socialists, DPS, of Montenegrin President Milo Djukanovic senses a …

The police takedown of encrypted communications provider Sky ECC has led to a spate of new arrests across the Balkans, notably that of notorious drug boss Darko Saric and the former head of Montenegro’s top court. Whether justice will come is still in doubt. They arrived in force at around …

As Belgrade feels the heat over its warm ties to Moscow, Beijing’s stake in the country is likely to grow. Serbia is coming under significant pressure over its policy towards Russia due to current events in Ukraine. A country on track to EU accession, with European values enshrined in its …

It was billed as a promising breakthrough — Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan meeting last month and agreeing to try to resolve their countries’ age-old differences, keeping, at least, a lid on tensions as the conflict in Ukraine rages. But on Thursday, as armed …

Disappointed with the West, lacking trust in local leaders, and served a diet of Serbian media, many in North Macedonia are vulnerable to Russia’s wartime propaganda. When the letter Z, a symbol of support for Russia’s war in Ukraine, appeared on facades in the town of Bitola, in the southwest …

Serb entity Republika Srpska would defer the decision transferring competencies from the central state government to the entity level that parliament adopted last year, Milorad Dodik, the Serb member of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s tripartite presidency, told Serbian daily Politika in an interview. The decision is a direct consequence of Germany …

A petition against imposing sanctions on Russia was presented in Belgrade on Monday after signatures were collected from 200 public figures, including the academics Matija Becković, Kosta Čavoški and Vasilije Krestić, Serbian Orthodox Church bishops Irinej and David, filmmaker Emir Kusturica and former ambassador to Russia, Slavenko Terzić. The petition …