Moscow is seeking to exploit ethnic tensions in the Western Balkans to provoke “instability and hinder the region’s integration into Euro-Atlantic institutions,” the U.S. State Department has said.
The warning came after retired U.S. General Wesley Clark, the former NATO supreme allied commander in Europe, recently cautioned that Russia, which maintains close ties with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, is using Belgrade as a proxy to sow discord in the region.
Serbia, which has been a candidate for membership in the European Union since 2012, has so far refused to impose sanctions on Moscow over its war against Ukraine, even though it…