Balkans

Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremić is in Moscow making final preparations for Russian President Dmitry Medvedev’s Belgrade visit. Jeremić, who is on a working visit, will be meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and officials of Medvedev’s administration. Before heading for Moscow, Jeremić said that Belgrade officials expect that Medvedev’s …

Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski will be heading to Slovakia on Monday for talks with Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico. Gruevski spearheads the government’s delegation which includes Deputy Prime Minister for EU Integration Vasko Naumovski, Interior Minister Gordana Jankulovska and the Foreign Investments Agency Director Viktor Mizo.

Serbian government is set to file a counter-lawsuit to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) against Croatia alleging genocide during 1991-95 war. Serbia will sue Croatia for war crimes and ethnic cleansing committed against the Serb minority during the 1991-95 war in Croatia. The government and expert team representing Serbia …

Russia is ready to extend a credit to Serbia and considers giving a loan to Bulgaria, Russian Deputy PM and Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin told journalists after a meeting with the finance ministers of the two countries in Istanbul where the IMF and World Bank hold an annual session.

Greece’s new cabinet will be announced on Tuesday after PASOK won Sunday’s early elections. On Monday the socialist party PASOK leader Georgios Papandreou will receive a mandate from President Karolos Papoulias to form a new government. According to some sources the new government scheme could be made public as early …

Serbia’s attempts to block Kosovo’s participation in regional initiatives could paralyse regional policies, according to a leaked European Commission, EC, report. This according to a report on Balkan countries involved in the EU enlargement process, to be issued in Brussels on October 14.

The upcoming change in government in Greece may act to break the current impasse in the Athens-Skopje name talks, Macedonian observers predict. Outgoing Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis has resigned as New Democracy leader after his party suffered an outright defeat in Sunday’s general election to the rival Pan-Hellenic Socialist …

Blaze Ristovski, the chief editor of the controversial Macedonian encyclopaedia, which enraged the country’s ethnic Albanians, is resisting government pressure to resign. Upon its publication in September, the state-funded tome, prepared by the Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts, MANU, came under fire domestically and in neighbouring states for describing …

Macedonia has praised the Irish yes vote on the Lisbon treaty, saying its adoption will have a positive impact on EU enlargement prospects. The positive outcome would mean “a positive climate for the continuation of one of the most successful EU projects, the enlargement process, that spreads the zone of …

As authorities in Bosnia arrest another terrorism suspect believed to be trafficking weapons for radical Muslim groups, sources close to the investigation tell ISN Security Watch’s Anes Alic that they are hoping, finally, to catch up with ‘known’ terrorists before it’s too late. Bosnian border police last week arrested a …