Eurasia News

PRISTINA, Kosovo – Lithuania wants to withdraw its small military component from Kosovo, local media reported on Wednesday (March 25th). Vilnius cites the stable security situation in the country and the strain of the global economic crisis.

Russia’s Gazprom warned Ukraine against implementing plans to modernize its pipelines without consulting Moscow, saying any such action would immediately affect gas supplies to Europe. Ukraine has called on the European Union, which gets most of its imported Russian gas via Ukraine, to help fund modernization of its pipeline system. …

MOSCOW – Russia is preparing a request for Georgia to extradite a Russian soldier who fled his military unit in South Ossetia in January, but has not yet filed the order, a military investigator said on Thursday. Lt. Gen. Alexander Sorochkin, head of the Military Investigation Department at Russia’s Investigation …

TBILISI, Georgia — A Georgian court ruled Wednesday that eight opposition supporters accused of plotting a coup and terrorist acts should remain in custody for two months as they await trial. Police released video recordings this week allegedly showing the men trying to buy weapons with the intent of causing …

Bulgaria’s parliament drastically reduced the number of prisoners to be pardoned under the amnesty act, which was approved at second reading on Thursday. The amnesty will apply to people, who were sent behind bars prior to July 1, 2008 on charges of criminal negligence. It will not be valid for …

“The demise of three east European governments in six weeks suggests the region faces instability at a time when strong governments are needed,” the Financial Times wrote, commenting on the political situation in Eastern Europe. It points out that Bulgaria may see turmoil, though on a less dramatic scale, with …

The US Ambassador to Bulgaria, Nancy McEldowney, has stated that corruption and organized crime are the most serious problems that Bulgaria faces. McEldowney said that during her visit to Washington last week she talked to the new US administration about the “very important” problem of the global economic crisis and …

Kenyan police are investigating a man whom they suspect may be wanted by the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal, Agence France Press reported. The man, whose identity has still not been released, was arrested Thursday in Mombasa. According to this agency, the Kenyan police have sent the man’s fingerprints to Interpol …

The new head of the Office of the High Representative, OHR, and EU Special Representative, Austria’s Valentin Inzko, officially took up his challenging position from the outgoing Miroslav Lajcak on Thursday. “I fully appreciate the responsibility and importance of this new role,” 59-year-old Inzko said at a joint press conference …

The EU will find practical and pragmatic ways to prevent Kosovo from becoming the ‘black hole’ of Europe, says EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn. Rehn welcomed the fact that “the Balkans is to be on the EU agenda, after the latter was filled with financial and economic problems”. Even though …