Encrypted App Breach Exposes Bosnian State’s Ties to Crime

Evidence obtained from a crackdown on the Sky ECC encrypted messaging app has shed more light on the support that crime gangs enjoy from public officials in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina has confirmed that evidence obtained from the crackdown of an encrypted messaging app will be valid in court, announcing the first indictments by the end of November for some of more than a 100 people arrested in the past year-and-a-half.

Bulgaria Faces Fresh Criticism over Ukraine Refugee Response

Concerns are growing over the government’s handling of a programme to move Ukrainian refugees from hotels to state-owned facilities, undermining their integration into Bulgarian society.

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in late February, Bulgarians have been pressing their authorities to do more for the tens of thousands of refugees who have sought shelter in the Black Sea country. Now they face a new challenge.

Bosnia is Becoming Depopulated – What to do About it?

If the political class doesn’t get to grips with the mass exodus of the young, and give them more opportunities, they risk ending up with no one to rule over.

Ivisited my maternal birthplace of Prusac near the central Bosnian town of Donji Vakuf twice last summer. Once a vibrant community, what was striking about it in August was its sheer emptiness. I encountered a few elderly people, but no youngsters.

Albania courts Azeri strongman president in Tirana

After Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev visited Albania on Tuesday in the first-ever visit of its kind, Albanian President Bajram Begaj declared the welcoming of Azeri investments and the possible establishment of diplomatic missions.

Vučić touts Russian-Serbian brotherhood as regional tensions rise

In a sign of resistance to Western calls to choose between Moscow and the West, Serbian President Aleksander Vucic said his country’s brotherly relations with Russia cannot be destroyed, and Belgrade would never succumb to pressure during a meeting with Turko Daudov, an advisor to controversial Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov.

Washington and the Destruction of ex-Yugoslavia

South-East Europe, and especially the Balkan Peninsula as the main part of it, have traditionally been the object of numerous geopolitical, geostrategic, and publicist analyses, as well as the subject of debates among the Balkan, European, and global experts in international relations. The new Iron Curtain or the Cold War 2.0 between western and eastern Europe was not the end of the Balkan’s importance for the US administration and NATO as well.