The following media round-up on international, legal and foreign policy issues from around the Balkans for the period from 13 June to 20 June 2024.
Guernica 37 will provide weekly media updates with a focus on Bosnia and Hercegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia. Should you wish to contribute or submit a media summary, opinion piece or blog, please send to Ned Vucijak at nenadv@guernica37.com for consideration.
Serbia - 21 June 2024
More than half a million people follow 23 pro-Moscow channels on the communications app Telegram that target the Balkans with Kremlin narratives and even act as recruiting sergeants for Russia, a BIRN analysis has found; see here.
Balkans - 20 June 2024
Matches at Euro 2024 involving Albania, Croatia and Serbia have been marred by nationalist chants and banners that are not uncommon in the Balkans, but were given a bigger stage by the showpiece football tournament; see here.
Kosovo - 20 June 2024
Some of the refugees from the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s have dedicated their lives to helping others who were also driven from their homes by conflict; see here.
Balkans - 20 June 2024
Balkan diaspora communities are expanding in size, becoming more interested in electoral battles back home - and are increasingly aware of their key role in shaping outcomes in an important year for elections across the region; see here.
Croatia - 20 June 2024
Uefa has launched an investigation into Croatia and Albania supporters over anti-Serbian chanting during their Euro 2024 clash in Hamburg on Wednesday; see here.
Romania - 20 June 2024
NATO member Romania has announced it will send a Patriot missile system to Ukraine, which has repeatedly called on its allies to increase their air defence support as Russia attacks its energy infrastructure; see here.
Balkans - 19 June 2024
New report on the Balkans by Transparency International reveals a complex mixture of slow and limited progress in strengthening integrity systems, along with democratic backsliding that strongly augments corruption levels; see here.
Romania - 19 June 2024
Romania will buy $920 million worth of South Korea's K-9 self-propelled howitzers, in its largest weapon acquisition in seven years, Seoul's defence ministry said on Wednesday; see here.
Serbia - 18 June 2024
The appointment of a ruling party apparatchik as head of the powerful Security Information Agency suggests the intelligence service will remain a loyal servant of Serbia’s president; see here.
Bosnia - 18 June 2024
The Bosnian state court confirmed the verdict sentencing ten former soldiers to a total of 162 years in prison for participating in the mass execution of 24 Bosniak civilians in the Bosanski Novi area in June 1992; see here.
North Macedonia - 17 June 2024
Former Transport Minister Mile Janakieski, once a close associate of the fugitive former PM Nikola Gruevski, on Monday won early release from prison; see here.
Albania - 17 June 2024
UK court dismisses appeal by opposition leader Sali Berisha to lift sanctions against him for alleged corruption, ruling that the ban was based on sufficient information; see here.
Romania - 17 June 2024
Romania won the litigation case filed by the owner of the bankrupt insurer Astra Asigurari, Dutch-based Nova Group Investments controlled by the Adamescu family, according to a note published by the Romanian Ministry of Finance; see here.
Balkans - 17 June 2024
A UN General Assembly resolution on the Srebrenica genocide stirred up hate speech and nationalist rhetoric on websites and social media in Bosnia, Serbia, Montenegro and North Macedonia, BIRN’s digital rights violations monitoring for May 2024 showed; see here.