Executive Summary: A recent joint investigation by the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN) and Moldovan outlet CU SENS confirmed that Moscow had established secret paramilitary camps in the Balkans to train Moldovan citizens in destabilization tactics ahead of Moldova’s October 2024 presidential elections. The Kremlin... MORE

Executive Summary: Serbia’s new government is bolstering its connections with Russia through the appointment of Kremlin-linked ministers. Belgrade is also expanding its economic and media links with China following the visit of Chinese Communist Party General Secretary Xi Jinping. The Aleksandar Vučić administration continues to... MORE

Executive Summary: Serbian President Alexander Vučić confirmed a new $300 million defense contract with Azerbaijan on February 6, following years of strategic agreements between the two countries. The new defense contract will give Azerbaijan a foothold in the Balkans, providing Baku with a path to... MORE

Executive summary: The Kremlin views Serbia as a strategic asset in the Balkans that expands Russia’s geopolitical reach, weakens Western cohesion, and undermines transatlantic institutions. The Serbian government benefits from its alliance with Moscow by having an advocate on the UN Security Council to block... MORE

On November 20, the secretary-general of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), Jens Stoltenberg, declared that the alliance wholly supports Bosnia-Herzegovina’s territorial integrity. Stoltenberg was speaking in Sarajevo, his first stop on a five-day tour of the Western Balkans that included Kosovo, Serbia, and North... MORE

Bulgaria has finally taken decisive measures to cease its dependence on Russian energy and undercut Moscow’s positions in the Balkan and Central European energy markets. On September 28, the Bulgarian National Assembly voted to introduce a new excise tax on the import and transit of... MORE

On October 2, the State Security Service of Georgia (SSSG) released a statement alleging that three Serbian trainers are recruiting activists with the intent to orchestrate the violent overthrow of the Georgian government (Civil.ge, October 2). The SSSG’s statement highlights the Georgian Dream government’s growing paranoia... MORE

Russian President Vladimir Putin has struggled to maintain control over religious radicals and other aggressive advocates of his war against Ukraine, though his political ideology and worldview do not significantly differ from their own (see EDM, August 17). Conversely, these same radicals, recognizing the Kremlin’s... MORE

*Read Part One. The Kremlin offered Turkey several major, highly attractive business projects at the bilateral summit in Sochi on September 4. These would further increase Turkey’s reliance on Russia in key economic sectors and on Russian-generated revenues (see Part One). By the same token, it... MORE

Tensions in the Balkans are escalating again as Serbian security forces have allegedly kidnapped three Kosovo police officers inside the territory of Kosovo. Prime Minister Albin Kurti called the entry of Serbian forces into Kosovo territory an aggression aimed at destabilization (Koha.net, June 14). The... MORE