Eurasia

KFOR, Serbs in northern Kosovo reach agreement on Brdjani conflict

PRISTINA, Kosovo Serbs in Mitrovica and KFOR commanders agreed on Tuesday (April 28th) that peacekeeping troops blocking the roads to the Brdjani district will withdraw. KFOR personnel will leave, while Serbs and Albanians, involved in sporadic clashes since Friday, will be able to return to their homes.

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Croatia seeks foreign aid to reform its judiciary

ZAGREB, Croatia Justice Minister Ivan Simonovic asked foreign donors Tuesday (April 28th) to help the country finance projects aimed at reforming the judiciary, a key precondition for eventual EU accession. Presenting projects worth about 42m euros through 2012, Simonovic asked the donors to help reduce the number of local courts …

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Romania assures EU it will not grant mass citizenship to Moldovans

BUCHAREST, Romania Foreign Minister Cristian Diaconescu says he assured EU officials that Romania has no plans to grant mass citizenship to Moldovans. Returning on Tuesday (April 28th) from a meeting of the EU’s General Affairs and External Relations Council in Luxembourg, Diaconescu said Bucharest has guaranteed a case-by-case assessment in …

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Kosachev says PACE makes errors in South Caucasus

MOSCOW Chairman of the State Duma committee on international affairs Konstantin Kosachev said on Wednesday PACE insistence to politicize the situation related to South Ossetia and Georgia in its resolution on humanitarian issues was erroneous. He also told Vesti TV channel PACE is taking no concrete action and is only …

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Russia to help SOssetia, Abkhazia protect borders

MOSCOW Russia will help South Ossetia and Abkhazia to protect their borders against a feared new Georgian attack that Tbilisi may be heartened to launch after a NATO exercise next month. On Thursday Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and his counterparts from South Ossetia and Abkhazia, Eduard Kokoity and Sergei Bagapsh, …

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Moldova says EU raises “iron curtain”

CHISINAU Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin said on Thursday the European Union was raising an “iron curtain” against his citizens by allowing them to freely travel in Europe only with Romanian passports. 

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President Medvedev: Bulgaria Relations Back on Track

Bulgarian PM Sergey Stanishev’s delayed meeting with Russian President Dimitry Medvedev took place late Tuesday in the Barbihka residence near Moscow. The half-hour meeting took place after the two delegations from Russia and Bulgaria had finished day long talks in Moscow. Medvedev informed Stanishev that he was aware of the …

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Bulgaria President: Belene Nuclear Plant Can’t Be Frozen over Crisis

Bulgaria’s President Georgi Parvanov said Wednesday the Belene Nuclear Power Plant could be build with loans from Russia, if necessary. “It is not very easy to find credits for such a large-scale project as our second nuclear power plant in times of global financial crisis. We should not exclude the …

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Balkan States Tally Obama’s First 100 Days

The new US administration’s first one hundred day anniversary – coinciding with still unconfirmed news that Vice-President Joe Biden will visit the Balkans in May – has been greeted with mixed feelings and still great expectations among the countries in the region. “Biden’s visit will above all be a good …

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