Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has dropped plans to attend a meeting of the NATO-Russia Council this month in protest at NATO’s expulsion of Russian diplomats, Russia’s NATO envoy said on Tuesday. NATO said it regretted Russia’s decision and hoped a new date would soon be agreed for the talks. …

The Belgian government has asked Russia when two diplomats expelled by NATO over a spy scandal will be leaving their posts, a Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said on Tuesday. NATO, whose headquarters are in Brussels, expelled the two men on Wednesday, the same day the military alliance held its first formal …

ODGORICA, Montenegro President Filip Vujanovic was to begin consultations Monday (May 4th) with Montenegro’s political parties regarding the formation of a new government. The talks, however, are being boycotted by two opposition parties — the Socialist People’s Party and New Serbian Democracy.

YEREVAN, Armenia Former president and opposition leader Levon Ter-Petrosian said on Friday (May 1st) that his Armenian National Congress Party will back reconciliation efforts towards Turkey.

ANKARA, Turkey Admiral Caner Bener, of the Turkish Navy, has assumed command of an international naval task force established to fight piracy in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean. He succeeds US Rear Admiral Michelle Howard. Turkey is the second nation to command the UN-led Combined Task Force 151, …

THE HAGUE, The Netherlands Peter Robinson, the legal adviser to former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, is requesting certain documents from the German government to bolster his client’s defence, media reported on Sunday (May 3rd).

BELGRADE, Serbia Kosovo’s transport and telecommunications minister, Fatmir Limaj, is the subject of a probe by Serbian war crimes prosecutors, media in Belgrade reported Sunday (May 3rd). The investigation is into Limaj’s alleged involvement in crimes against Serb civilians in the Drenica region. Limaj has already stood trial at The …

May 5 (Bloomberg) — Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili called on about 500 mutineers at a military base near the central city of Gori to surrender and said talks are under way with the organizers of the rebellion. “This is a serious challenge, and we accept this challenge,” Saakashvili said today …

Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov has opened a UNESCO International conference on Monday in Sofia. The ‘International Conference on the Safeguarding of Cultural Heritage and the Promotion of Cultural Diversity – a Response to Globalization’ is part of the visit to Bulgaria of UNESCO’s executive council members. The executive council members …

After nearly two years of silence, Skopje’s central municipality finally revealed details of the controversial ten million euros project for erecting several grandiose bronze monuments, including a giant statue of Alexander the Great. The statue of Alexander the Great, that will be erected in the city’s main square and show …