Eurasia

ALBANIA Albania sent additional soldiers in Afghanistan. The Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha participated in the ceremony for sending additional quota peacekeepers in Afghanistan. The additional quota of Albanian troops in Afghanistan will be led by Italian forces and that is why the Italian Ambassador Sabah Delia said that we …

BULGARIA Bulgaria’s former Finance Minister, Plamen Oresharski, has accepted the invitation of his successor Simeon Djankov, and PM Borisov for a meeting. The meeting, in which the two Finance Ministers are expected to clear out their controversy about the emergence of a budget deficit, is taking place at the Ministry …

BULGARIA Bulgaria’s top archaeologist, Professor Nikolay Ovcharov, presented Wednesday the artifacts and jewelry that he discovered recently in Veliko Tarnovo, the capital of the Second Bulgarian Empire (1185-1396 AD). Ovcharov has discovered the remains of the medieval St. Peter and St. Paul Monastery and the St. Ivan of Rila Church, …

ATHENS, Greece After the Bulgarians, Menduh Thaci too will demand that FYROM’s accession to NATO be halted but this time by Albania, the Greek newspaper Ethnos reports. The leader of the Democratic Part of Albanians (DPA) announced that over the next several days he would visit Sofia and meet with …

SOFIA, Bulgaria Pavlin Dimitrov, who has been chief secretary in the Ministry of Interior up to now, will be proposed for deputy interior minister, Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov announced ahead of the meeting of the Council of Ministers.

Russia is to spend almost $500m (£300m) next year reinforcing its military bases in Georgia’s breakaway region of Abkhazia, the prime minister says. Vladimir Putin’s announcement came as he arrived in Abkhazia for talks. He said Russia was committed to defending and financing the small strip of land in Georgia’s …

Another assassination has taken place in the unstable Caucasus region of southern Russia. The Ingushetian construction minister Ruslan Amerkhanov was shot dead by two unknown gunman this morning who walked into his office in Magas not far from the capital, and opened fire. Ingushetia is suffering from a rebellion by …

SUKHUMI, Georgia Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin made a surprise visit to the breakaway region of Abkhazia on Wednesday, pledging half a billion dollars to strengthen the defenses of the Moscow-backed rebel enclave. Russia recognized Abkhazia and another breakaway region, South Ossetia, as independent states last year after Russian troops …

KIEV, Ukraine Accusations made by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev that Kiev carries out anti-Russian policies were aimed at Ukraine and not just President Viktor Yushchenko, his senior aide said on Wednesday. Medvedev on Tuesday warned energy security in the region was at risk due to Yushchenko’s policies toward Russia, in …

MACEDONIA Opposition claims that the 2001 Ohrid Peace Accord is a dead letter are unfounded, Macedonia’s Deputy Prime Minister Abdilakim Ademi says. The pact ended that year’s short-lived ethnic Albanian insurgency, promising the country’s largest minority official recognition of its language and culture and positive discrimination in state employment.