Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik, the president of Republika Srpska, with Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, in February 2024.
EPA-EFE/Sergei Bobylev/Sputnik/Kremlin pool
Tension in the western Balkans, which has been troubled by ethnic tensions since the wars of the 1990s, is becoming an increasing concern for the EU and Nato.
Serbia’s nationalist government seeks re-election. If it succeeds, Europe may be poised for renewed war in the Balkans.
A Kosovo police officer guards a road near the village of Banjska in northern Kosovo in September 2023 following an attack on police officers by Serbian militants.
(AP Photo/Bojan Slavkovic)
The U.S. and the EU have neglected the Balkans, hoping that the allure of EU integration would be enough to placate Serbia and other countries. It was not.
Proud: all smiles at Belgrade’s Pride march in 2021. This year’s march has been banned.
Zorana Jevtic/Reuters/Alamy Stock Photo