Russia Prime Minister Vladimir Putin sent a telegram to Vlad Filat congratulating him on appointment as Prime Minister. Putin wrote that Russian-Moldovan relations are based on ancient traditions of friendship and mutual respect. He expressed confidence their further comprehensive development meets the vital interests of both peoples.

NATO supports Moldova in its its efforts to remove the Russian troops from its territory, Deputy Assistant Secretary General of NATO Robert Simmons said in a video conference on September 30. This is the position of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and Moldova should maintain its stance as regards the …

The Bulgarian Cabinet has approved a three-year plan for mutual assistance and co-operation between the Bulgarian Health Ministry and its Chinese counterpart, a Government media statement said.

There is no possibility for radical Islam to flourish in the country, according to Bulgarian Defence Minister Nikolai Mladenov, as quoted by the Bulgarian National Television on September 30 2009. Mladenov is in Gotheburg Sweden, at the EU defence ministers conference, where one of the paramount topics earmarked for discussion …

An independent report blamed Georgia on Wednesday for starting last year’s five-day war with Russia, but said Moscow’s military response went beyond reasonable limits and violated international law. The report commissioned by the European Union said both sides had broken international humanitarian laws and found evidence of ethnic cleansing against …

Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic says that Serbia will see in the next couple of weeks how successful it was in preventing further states from recognising Kosovo. In an interview with daily Danas, Jeremic said that the Serbian delegation to the UN General Assembly in New York had held meetings …

The presidency of the Macedonian Academy of Science and Arts, MASA, decided on Wednesday to withdraw its controversial Macedonian encyclopaedia. The editors of the encyclopaedia were ordered to revise and correct the passages in the book that refer to Macedonian-Albanian relations, Albanians in Macedonia, the former head of the 2001 …

The European Parliament’s rapporteur on visa issues, has proposed that the European Commission, EC, include all five western Balkan states in the EU visa liberalisation programme. Slovenian MEP Tanja Fajon made this recommendation, while arguing that the two states that have yet to meet all necessary benchmarks be included on …

The Macedonian government looks set to survive after the leaders of the ruling VMRO-DPMNE party and ethnic Albanian Democratic Union for Integration, DUI, met to settle their differences. VMRO-DPMNE leader Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski and DUI head Ali Ahmeti met on Tuesday afternoon to discuss the turmoil caused by the …

The heads of the European Commission and OSCE in Albania have both enjoined the country’s Socialist opposition party to end its parliamentary boycott. Speaking after a meeting with the minister of foreign affairs, Deputy Premier Ilir Meta, the head of the OSCE office in Tirana, Robert Bosch, said that his …