Russia could exploit unresolved conflicts in the Balkans to stage new provocations and destabilize the region through proxy players, despite NATO’s presence.
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade of the Republic of North Macedonia Zoran Dimitrovski said this in an interview with Ukrinform.
According to the diplomat, the situation in the Balkans is in some ways similar to what is happening between Ukraine and Russia: history, identity, and unresolved conflicts. Russia also exerts influence in the region through proxy players, particularly in Serbia, Republika Srpska, and among certain politicians and elites.
“And they try to impact the region in a sense that they wouldn’t like the region to become members of the European Union, because it’s not in their interest. That’s one thing. The second thing is that they would like to see probably ethnic clashes again in the region, because the Balkans, you know, it’s like a powder cage, as we say. There are some unresolved ethnic tensions and issues now, the things that are going on in Republika Srpska, in Kosovo and Serbia. There is a peace so far, but we don’t know what could happen if some of the foreign players, and Russia is one of them, want to use them as a tool just to provoke a new crisis, a new war. So, we have to be very careful,” Dimitrovski said.
He added that NATO is currently all over the region: North Macedonia, Albania, and Croatia are Alliance members, NATO forces operate in Kosovo, and its headquarters is located in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
“It is more or less covered, but we have to be very careful in the future that, although the Russian forces cannot come there, because they cannot fly over the borders of different countries, but they can work through their proxy players in order to incite some ethnic clashes,” the Deputy Foreign Minister cautioned.
The diplomat also noted that historically Russia has always been an adversary for North Macedonia, so the country’s attitude toward Moscow is “generally negative” — it has never had close relations with Russia and supports all EU sanctions against it.
As reported by Ukrinform, leaders of the Western Balkans and the United Kingdom fear that Vladimir Putin may exploit regional tensions to take advantage of divisions in the former Yugoslavia.
Source: Russia may incite ethnic clashes in Balkans, North Macedonia’s Deputy FM says
