Eurasia

GENEVA Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov arrived in Switzerland on Wednesday for talks with his Swiss counterpart that will include the situation in Georgia, the Swiss Foreign Ministry said.

BEIJING Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping met Mircea Geoana, the president of Romania’s senate here Wednesday. Xi pledged to step up cooperation and boost ties. Xi hailed the traditional relationship and the development of bilateral ties since the two states established diplomatic relations 60 years ago. 

The recent visit of Serbian President Boris Tadic to Banja Luka, the seat of the Bosnian Serb leadership, continues to draw strong criticism from other Bosnian leaders. “Tadic is reneging on the Dayton agreement,” leader of the strongest Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) Party of Democratic Action, SDA, Sulejman Tihic, said in …

The EU rule-of-law mission in Kosovo has condemned the use of roadblocks by local Serbs, who are attempting to stop EULEX custom officers from working in the north of the country. Roadblocks were erected on Monday and Tuesday on the roads leading to Gates 1 and 31 in northern Kosovo, …

in Croatia’s EU accession negotiations, leaving Zagreb with a total of 13 blocked chapters. Slovenia failed to give Croatia the green light for closing a chapter on statistics, citing the two countries’ unresolved territorial disputes, Croatia’s HINA news agency reported.

Serbia’s war Crimes Court on Tuesday sentenced a Croatian Serb to 20 years in prison for killing Croat prisoners of war in the eastern Croatian city of Vukovar in 1991. Damir Sireta, alias Sico, was indicted for taking part in the killing of some 200 Croatian soldiers and civilians at …

Former Yugoslav Army general and convicted war criminal Mile Mrksic has concluded his five-day-long testimony as a witness for the defence of Croatian General Ante Gotovina, accused of deporting Serbs from Knin Krajina in 1995 under Operation Storm. Mrksic had initially refused to testify, but was subpoenaed by the court, …

The first Japanese ambassador to Kosovo, Akio Tanaka, is preparing to take up his post in the newly independent nation. In a Wednesday letter to Kosovo President Fatmir Sejdiu, Japanese diplomat Akio Tanaka said he was honored to assume the post and vowed Japan’s continued support. Serbia’s Beta news agency …

In the latest scene of Bosnia’s political farce, Austrian diplomat Valentin Inzko uses his powers to abolish a Bosnian Serb declaration and the curtains begin to draw on the country’s EU aspirations, Anes Alic writes for ISN Security Watch. has adopted a tough stance against Bosnian nationalist leaders by using …

Serbian President Boris Tadic has issued a strong statement of support for the Bosnian Serb leadership in a joint condemnation of Bosnia’s top western envoy, who has moved to abolish a Bosnian Serb declaration challenging his powers. Bosnian Serb leaders continue to contemplate their response to Bosnia’s High Representative Valentin …