Albanians the least affected as Kremlin ready to launch “Russian storm”, ECFR policy brief claims
The European Council on Foreign Relations has published a document entitled “Do the Western Balkans face a coming Russian storm?”
The document that is unique in its kind holds the mark of Mark Galeotti, scholar and expert on Russian issues.
The report points out that 2018 marks the start of a new Russia campaign in the Balkans.
“The confluence of a rising series of pressures in the Balkans, as well as the attention of Russian Security Council secretary Nikolai Patrushev – who has taken on the region as a special responsibility – suggests 2018 will see the launch of a renewed Russian campaign in the Balkans,” reads the policy brief.
The policy brief claims that Russia’s aim is not to assert authority over the region for its own sake so much as to harness and magnify existing tensions.
In Russian eyes, the EU’s approach towards the Western Balkans is neither serious or systematic and so offers Moscow opportunities to create leverage.
Regarding the Albanian factor in the Balkans, the policy brief states that the Russian scenarios for Albania and Kosovo are quite limited.
In the case of Albania this is attributed to the Albanian foreign policy openly against Russia, especially with a diplomacy headed by the Foreign Minister Ditmir Bushati.
The report of the European Council on Foreign Relations also elaborates on Kremlin’s ongoing efforts to capture some of the region’s media, including Albanian ones in Macedonia.
According to the brief, Russia looks to the Balkans as a battlefield in its “political war”, in part to compensate for its mixed success with “active measures” in Europe.
Russia is seeking to create distractions and potentially bargaining chips with the EU, especially as this push coincides with the EU’s own renewed attention to the region.
SCAN
*Material i përgatitur nga portali SCAN. Ripublikimi mund të bëhet vetëm kundrejt citimit të autorësisë dhe burimit origjinal.