The war in Ukraine reinforces the urgency of working with the Western Balkans

The State Department called for greater diplomatic attention to the Western Balkans, a region considered vulnerable to malign Russian influence campaigns amid the war in Ukraine.
“The war in Russia has clearly shown how relevant our work is in helping all Western Balkan countries to fully advance democratic reforms and realize their aspirations to integrate into European and Euro-Atlantic institutions,” he said. said a State Department spokesperson in response to written questions. from media.
The department representative said that priorities for diplomatic work in the region include mutual recognition of countries, reduction of trade barriers, freedom of the media and the fight against corruption.
“It is very important that we continue to stand side by side in the face of this unprecedented aggression,” the official wrote. “Widespread corruption weakens the region, accelerates brain drain and benefits a malevolent Russia.”
One of the region’s most pressing concerns is the gradual erosion of the fragile compromises established in the 1995 Dayton Accords that ended the Bosnian war that killed more than 100,000 people.