Eurasia

PODGORICA, Montenegro Serbia’s initiative to open three consulates in Montenegro should be decided on in direct talks between the two countries’ leaderships. This is according to a Podgorica-based Vijesti daily report, which quoted Montenegrin Foreign Ministry officials. Vijesti wrote that the official Belgrade was informed of the stand of the …

ZAGREB, Croatia Milan Španović, accused on committing war crimes in 1991 in the Glina area, has been extradited to Croatia, media in that country say. According to this, he arrived in Croatia on a flight from Britain accompanied by British police and is now in the Sisak prison. In 1994, …

TIRANA, Albania Albanian PM Sali Berisha’s statement about the need to “integrate Albanians” is not tantamount to provoking Belgrade, said the Foreign Ministry in Tirana. “This is not a case of provoking Serbia. The cooperation of the republic of Albania and the republic of Kosovo is quite natural and has …

KIEV, Ukraine Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko on Wednesday urged Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to work for better bilateral relations. They have worsened over the last few years. In an open letter to his Ukrainian counterpart on August 11, Medvedev blamed Kiev for the deterioration in relations between the two former …

TBILISI, Georgia A Georgian court has remanded in custody the Turkish captain of a tanker detained this week delivering fuel to the breakaway region of Abkhazia, as Tbilisi tries to enforce a blockade on Russian-backed separatists. The captain faces up to 24 years’ imprisonment if found guilty of smuggling and …

TURKEY While Turkey’s top security board convened to discuss government-led efforts to solve the Kurdish issue, the leader of the ultra-nationalist party strongly reacted to the process, calling it “destruction of the unitary state.” “What the government is trying to do is to place martyrs and butchers, our soldiers and …

CROATIA I’ve been in prison for Croatia and took so many risks than all priests will ever do. Stjepan Mesic said that the conflict with the Catholic Church went too far and took a wrong direction, Nova TV reported. Why priests are bigger Croatians than I am? Mesic asked and …

RUSSIA The death toll from the catastrophic flood inside Russia’s biggest hydroelectric power station has risen to 17 but 58 people were still missing, officials said on today. “As a result of the disaster 17 people have died and at the current moment the fate of 58 workers of the …

TBILISI, Georgia Georgia said Thursday it had seized two cargo ships visiting its rebel Abkhazia region this week, as it steps up efforts to enforce a naval blockade of the Moscow-backed breakaway province. The detentions drew an angry response from Abkhazia’s separatist leadership, which warned it could offer a ‘proportional …

BUCHAREST, Romania Romania’s tourism minister said Thursday she had taken legal action against members of a parliamentary committee that is investigating whether she misused ministry funds. Elena Udrea appeared briefly before the committee Thursday to announce she had filed a legal complaint against the lawmakers on the grounds they had …