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.
Bumble Dee/Shutterstock
Kosovo is under pressure from the US and EU to give in to some of Serbia’s demands.
EPA-EFE/Andrej Cukic
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
Despite an openly lesbian prime minister, Serbia’s deep-seated problems with homophobia remain.
Contested crossing: Kosovan Serbs protest at the ban on entry of vehicles with Serbian registration plates, September 2021.
Reuters/Laura Hasani
Unrest in the Balkans might be orchestrated by Russia, but the crisis is also an opportunity for the west.
People pass posters of Serbian prime minister Aleksandar Vucic, in Novi Sad, Serbia March 18, 2017.
Marko Djurica/Reuters
Serbians go to poll on April 2. Will the country’s trend of illiberalism and authoritarianism continue its three-year run?