Balkans

Belgrade enjoys warm ties with Moscow but in recent weeks, pro-government tabloids have turned on Putin. “Ukraine attacks Russia!” and “Putin checkmates Ukraine,” were among the headlines run by Serbia’s pro-government tabloids at the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “Putin is sending his army to unite Serbia and [Bosnia’s …

How U.S. Policy Is Making a Bad Situation Worse In the Balkans, and especially in Bosnia and Herzegovina, images from Ukraine of besieged cities, massacres, and mass displacement are re-traumatizing a society that has never been allowed to heal after the wars that followed the breakup of Yugoslavia in 1991. …

Developments in the Eastern Mediterranean region are unfolding at a breakneck pace. Blink an eye and one is bound to miss a new multilateral initiative, an impressive military exercise or even the creation of an international organization. Greece is very much in the middle of this diplomatic and military frenzy, …

Μέχρι σήμερα η Τουρκία προσπαθεί να εκμεταλλευθεί όπως μπορεί τη συμμετοχή της στο ΝΑΤΟ, δίχως η ίδια να προσφέρει ό,τι απαιτείται για τους συμμάχους, υποσκάπτοντας μάλιστα τη συνοχή του συνασπισμού, με τη συμπεριφορά της απέναντι στην Ελλάδα. Τώρα, η Άγκυρα αισθάνεται πως η παρασιτική της σχέση με το ΝΑΤΟ μπορεί …

While Europe shows compassion to refugees from Ukraine, those from outside Europe face the same obstacles to get to the West as before – as BIRN found out on a nighttime visit to a forest in northern Serbia. If you didn’t know the context, it might look like a rave …

With political will and the right incentives, a number of Balkan states could provide Ukraine with significant Soviet-made weaponry in its fight against Russia. From T-72 tanks to BMP infantry fighting vehicles, Mi-24 gunships to Strela anti-aircraft missiles, the countries of the Balkans have a lot to offer when it …

Moscow is busy selling its own version of the war in Ukraine to Bosnian citizens – cynically using analogies with the 1995 genocide in Srebrenica to justify its invasion and destabilize Bosnia at the same time. “There were literally bodies on the streets. Some of them had just been shot, …

If government instability, public polarisation and a Russian gas cut-off was not enough, 2022 has also brought Bulgaria a new political party sympathetic to the Kremlin. usted as defence minister for refusing to call Russia’s Ukraine war a ‘war,’ on May 5 Stefan Yanev unveiled Bulgarian Rise as Bulgaria’s third …

Our Homeland won six per cent of the popular vote in Hungary’s April election; experts say it represents both a risk and an opportunity for Viktor Orban. In calling for the 1920 Treaty of Trianon – which stripped Hungary of two-thirds of its territory and half of its population – …

A new minority government in Montenegro offers the Democratic Party of Socialists a change to re-establish itself as a force to be reckoned with ahead of elections in 2023. Not even two years since it lost power, the Democratic Party of Socialists, DPS, of Montenegrin President Milo Djukanovic senses a …