Balkans

Russia will “definitely not stop” with Ukraine if it is allowed to “survive” its war against Ukraine, warned Volodymyr Zelensky. 

NATO supports Bosnia’s territorial integrity and is concerned by “malign foreign interference,” including by Russia Jens Stoltenberg said.

The EU will seek to expand its borders east and absorb Ukraine and the western Balkans by the end of the decade, Charles Michel said.

Serbia condemned NATO-led peacekeepers for their alleged failure to stop “brutal actions” by Kosovo police against ethnic Serbs.

TIRANA, Albania (AP) – Albania’s prime minister on Thursday denied that he had bribed or given preferential treatment to a former high-ranking FBI counterintelligence official who has been indicted in the United States.

BRUSSELS (AP) – The number of attempts by migrants to enter the European Union without authorization reached around 330,000 last year, the highest number since 2016, the EU’s border and coast guard agency said Friday.

Croatia is to be the latest European nation to abandon its financial independence in exchange for integration within the European system.

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) – Serbs on Tuesday erected more roadblocks in northern Kosovo and defied international demands to remove those placed earlier, a day after Serbia put its troops near the border on a high level of combat readiness.

PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) – Tensions were high in northern Kosovo on Sunday, with Serbs blocking roads after shots and explosions rang out overnight, Kosovo police and media reported. No injuries were reported.

The war in Ukraine has put European Union expansion at the top of the agenda as officials from the Western Balkans and EU leaders gather.

The EU’s top diplomat was holding talks Monday in a bid to defuse tensions amid a dispute over vehicle license plates.

Hungary, Austria, and Serbia have agreed to coordinate to reduce illegal migrant flows on the Balkan route, with Serbia deploying more police along its southern border and Austria providing reinforcements.

PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) – Representatives of the ethnic Serb minority in Kosovo on Saturday resigned from their posts in protest over the dismissal of a police officer who did not follow the government’s decision on vehicle license plates.

The Prime Minister of Albania has said Britain should look to its own “failed policies on borders and on crime” for the root cause of the Channel boat migrants crisis, instead of “scapegoating” his countrymen in particular.

Over 200 migrants were arrested this week after Serbian authorities cleared a makeshift migrant camp along the Hungarian border. Traffic along the Balkan migration route continues to surge.

A group of Albanians are accused of kidnapping and torturing a man in an attempt to extract a £400,000 (~$452,000) ransom from his family overseas.

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) – Serbia’s foreign minister on Sunday sought to play down the importance of an agreement with Russia after the Balkan state that is seeking European Union membership faced criticism for signing it.

Police from corruption-riddled Albania are to be stationed in Britain to help deport illegal boat migrants from the Muslim-majority country.

An alleged people-smuggler was arrested by police in North Macedonia this week after authorities found 26 illegal immigrants in the back of his truck, which was heading to the country’s border with Serbia.

Two Bulgarian police officers were killed early Thursday as they tried to stop a bus containing migrants who had entered the country illegally, a senior interior ministry official said.

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) – Serbia’s president called on NATO on Sunday to “do their job” in Kosovo or he says Serbia itself will move to protect its minority in the breakaway province.

BRUSSELS (AP) – The leaders of Serbia and Kosovo failed Thursday to reach an agreement on longstanding border and mutual recognition issues that have spiked tensions in the Balkans and added to Europe’s instability during the war in Ukraine, the European Union’s foreign policy chief said.

CINCINNATI (AP) – Novak Djokovic pulled out of next week’s hard-court tournament in Cincinnati on Friday because he has not gotten any COVID-19 vaccine shots and so is not allowed to travel to the United States.

CETINJE, Montenegro (AP) – A man went on a shooting rampage in the streets of this western Montenegro city Friday, killing 10 people, including two children, before being shot dead by a passerby, officials said.

CETINJE, Montenegro (AP) — A man in Montenegro went on a shooting rampage after a family dispute, killing 11 people on the streets of a city before being shot dead in a gun battle with police, Montenegro state TV reported Friday, quoting police sources.

Hundreds of British troops have been barred from NATO deployment after video emerged of orgies with a civilian woman at a military barracks.

France will reportedly call for the creation of yet another globalist European institution, which could include both Ukraine and the UK.

The EU border agency reported illegal immigrant activity in the western Balkans surged by 167% in the first five months of 2022.

Thousands of pro-lifers in Croatia took to the streets on Saturday to protest against a potential loosening of abortion laws in the country.

The EU has the Western Balkans in its sights according to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who declared the region “belongs” to the bloc. 

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has accused the secret services of Ukraine and an unidentified European Union country of being behind a series of false bomb threats against Air Serbia flights to Russia.

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) – Serbia is seeking explanations from NATO on why its jets have allegedly shadowed Serbian passenger planes flying back from Russia.

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) – A flight from Belgrade to Moscow was reverted and evacuated following a bomb alert, Serbian police said Friday.

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) – Germany’s foreign minister has urged Serbia, which has not imposed sanctions on traditional ally Russia over the war in Ukraine, to align policies with the European Union if it wants to join the bloc.

ZAGREB, Croatia (AP) – A drone that apparently flew undetected over several NATO countries all the way from the Ukrainian war zone crashed overnight on the outskirts of the Croatian capital, Zagreb, triggering a loud blast but causing no injuries, Croatian authorities said Friday.

PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) – The NATO-led peacekeeping mission in Kosovo said Saturday that a participating soldier from North Macedonia has died.