Balkans

Pressured by the West Over Russia, Serbia May Look To China

As Belgrade feels the heat over its warm ties to Moscow, Beijing’s stake in the country is likely to grow.

Serbia is coming under significant pressure over its policy towards Russia due to current events in Ukraine. A country on track to EU accession, with European values enshrined in its constitution and a near-majority supporting EU membership, it has long benefitted from cooperation both with Europe and Russia. This policy is supported by a high share of the population, especially supporters of the current government. But now, as a sharp turn further in the direction of either Russia or the EU looks relatively unlikely, Chinese influence is likely to increase.

Greece Blocks Turkey From NATO Air Drill

It was billed as a promising breakthrough — Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan meeting last month and agreeing to try to resolve their countries’ age-old differences, keeping, at least, a lid on tensions as the conflict in Ukraine rages.

How Autocrats Endure

Viktor Orban and the Myth of the Self-Destructing Strongman

The timing could not have been more striking. On April 3, nearly six weeks after Russian President Vladimir Putin’s assault on Ukraine had apparently reinvigorated and reunified the liberal democratic West, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban was easily reelected to his fourth consecutive term in office, and his fifth in total. Although Orban has long emulated Putin and presides over an increasingly authoritarian regime—and although he faced for the first time a largely united opposition front—he had little trouble winning, drawing more than 53 percent of the vote and securing a continued supermajority in parliament. With the retirement of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, he also now carries the dubious distinction of being the longest-serving head of government in the European Union, a supposed bastion of human rights and democracy.

Republika Srpska would postpone competency transfer decision

Serb entity Republika Srpska would defer the decision transferring competencies from the central state government to the entity level that parliament adopted last year, Milorad Dodik, the Serb member of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s tripartite presidency, told Serbian daily Politika in an interview.

Petition against Russia sanctions presented in Belgrade

A petition against imposing sanctions on Russia was presented in Belgrade on Monday after signatures were collected from 200 public figures, including the academics Matija Becković, Kosta Čavoški and Vasilije Krestić, Serbian Orthodox Church bishops Irinej and David, filmmaker Emir Kusturica and former ambassador to Russia, Slavenko Terzić.

Bulgarians reject Russia as model state

Only a quarter of Bulgarians trust Russian President Vladimir Putin as support for him has continued to decline since the start of the war, a nationally representative survey by Alpha Research has found.

The drop in Putin’s rating in Bulgaria in just one year is remarkable – a year ago, his positive rating was 55%. Now 61% of Bulgarians distrust the Russian president.

Democracy Digest: Aftermath of Hungary Election

Following another overwhelming victory for the ruling Fidesz party, Viktor Orban continues his ‘peacock dance’ while the joint opposition, like Saturn, starts devouring its children.

Hungary is coming to terms with the fourth consecutive landslide victory for the prime minister, Viktor Orban, and his nationalist-populist Fidesz party.

In Serbia’s Electoral Simulation, the Leader Outstrips the Party

Elections in Serbia are all about the Leader, the “boss.” The Party comes a distant second.
Basking in the glow of another election win on April 3, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic told Serbs he was “the proudest man in the county.”

The reason for such pride was the 59.3 per cent he notched up in the presidential election, or roughly 800,000 more than all the other candidates combined.

Treasury Targets Actors for Destabilizing Behavior Throughout the Western Balkans

Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated seven individuals and one entity across four countries in the Western Balkans pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 14033. This is the second action OFAC has taken under E.O. 14033 targeting persons who threaten the stability of the region through corruption, criminal activity, and other destabilizing behavior. Today’s action reinforces Treasury’s commitment to promoting accountability for actors in the Western Balkans region engaged in destabilizing and corrupt behavior. Such corrupt behavior undermines the rule of law and economic growth, and it deprives people in these countries of opportunities and stability.

China makes semi-secret delivery of missiles to Serbia

Russian ally Serbia took the delivery of a sophisticated Chinese anti-aircraft system in a veiled operation this weekend, amid Western concerns that an arms buildup in the Balkans at the time of the war in Ukraine could threaten the fragile peace in the region.

Media and military experts said Sunday that six Chinese Air Force Y-20 transport planes landed at Belgrade’s civilian airport early Saturday, reportedly carrying HQ-22 surface-to-air missile systems for the Serbian military.