- CIA Director William Burns tours Western Balkans.
During the unannounced visit, the CIA chief visited Sarajevo, Belgrade, and Pristina.
First, the Director of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency visited Bosnia and Herzegovina, where he met with the director of the Intelligence and Security Agency of BiH, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of BiH, as well as with members of the Presidium of BiH, including Željko Cvijanović, who represents the Serbs.
As one of the topics of Burns’s meetings in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the media called “the alarming separatist rhetoric and actions of the President of Republika Srpska, Milorad Dodik, and the government of Republika Srpska.”
After Burns’s visit, Dodik wrote on X that Republika Srpska “has never denied the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in accordance with the Dayton Agreement,” and that “secession has never been our policy.”
He also called the visit of the head of the CIA “significant”, emphasizing the fight against terrorism, which is “the responsibility of the entire free world”, noting that Republika Srpska “welcomes any cooperation in this area”.
Observers regarded Dodik’s statement as the result of the CIA chief’s visit to BiH.
The details of Burns’s visit to Belgrade were never disclosed to the public.
The media reported that the head of the CIA was received in Belgrade by the head of the Security Information Agency (BIA) Vladimir Orlic. There was also a meeting between Burns and President Aleksandar Vučić.
“We had a useful and important meeting,” discussing topics “important for the future of Serbia,” Vucic said, answering reporters’ questions about the CIA chief’s visit.
According to unofficial reports, the topics of the meetings with Serbian officials were more political than intelligence-oriented – mainly the parties discussed the situation of Kosovo.
Burns’s final stop on the trip was Pristina, where he met with Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani, Prime Minister Albin Kurti, and the head of the Kosovo Intelligence Agency (KIA).
“We are committed to further strengthening and expanding our solid bilateral relationship with the United States,” Kurti wrote on Facebook after the meeting, which the Kosovo government called a historic milestone.
“The union with the U.S. is a guarantee of security, peace, and success,” Osmani emphasized in her Facebook post.
Analysts see the visit of the director of the US Central Intelligence Agency as a response to the Kremlin’s efforts to expand its influence in the region.
- NATO Assistant Secretary General visits Sarajevo, Pristina, Belgrade
Assistant Secretary General of NATO for political affairs and security policy, Ambassador Boris Ruge, held high-level consultations in Sarajevo, Pristina, and Belgrade.
During meetings with representatives of the Presidium of Bosnia and Herzegovina and other high-ranking officials in Bosnia and Herzegovina, including Minister of Foreign Affairs Elmedin Konakovic and High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina Christian Schmidt, Ruge confirmed that the allies resolutely support the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina and will not allow any security vacuum.
In Pristina, Ruge met with President Vjosa Osmani and representatives of the EU, OSCE, diplomats from the QUINT group (France, Germany, Italy, the UK and USA) and representatives of the NATO KFOR mission.
The Assistant Secretary General of NATO also emphasized the Alliance’s full support for the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina with the EU mediation. On the issue of the opening of the bridge over the Ibar in Mitrovica, he once again voiced NATO’s position that decisions should be made through dialogue and in a coordinated manner.
In Belgrade, Ruge met with President Aleksandar Vucic, Minister of Foreign Affairs Marko Djuric and representatives of the international community. NATO expects Serbia to help ensure full accountability for the acts of violence committed in Kosovo in May and September 2023, he said. (In May 2023, clashes between local Serbs and KFOR peacekeepers took place in northern Kosovo, as a result of which 90 NATO forces were injured. In September 2023, an armed conflict erupted between a Serbian armed group and the Kosovo police. In both cases, the perpetrators have not yet been prosecuted.
Vučić emphasized on his Instagram account that the meeting with Ruge was “good” and they discussed the situation in the region, security in Kosovo and the possible consequences of the continuation of “unilateral steps” by the regime of Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti (i.e. opening the bridge without coordination with the Serbian side).
Summing up his visit, NATO’s Assistant Secretary General said in an interview with television in Sarajevo that, although Ukraine is now in first place, “the Balkans are on our radar, we are very interested in this part of the world, and we are not going anywhere.”
- Serbia authorities arrest Croatian spy
In the early morning of August 26, the Security and Information Agency (BIA) of Serbia, in cooperation with other government agencies, ran a counter-intelligence operation in the Belgrade area, resulting in the detention of a Croatian spy.
As reported by the Serbian media, the move came as a result of several months of investigation by the BIA to stop “espionage and malign and subversive activities of the Croatian Security and Intelligence Service SOA”.
The Minister of Internal Affairs of Serbia, Ivica Dacic, confirmed the detention of a person on suspicion of espionage for Croatia.
On the same day, the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of Croatia stated that they had “no information either on the mentioned topic or on the fact that such an event really took place.”
The head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Gordan Grlic Radman, said his ministry learned the news from the media. “We are in touch with our Embassy in Belgrade” and “are making sure to inform the Croatian public,” he added.
Experts, commenting on this event, did not rule out that the detention of the Croat was needed by the Serbian authorities for gaining political points.
According to analysts, the espionage row will in any case have a negative impact on the relations between Belgrade and Zagreb.
- Driving licenses issued by Serbia no longer valid in Kosovo
As of August 23, driving licenses issued by the Republic of Serbia shall be deemed invalid in Kosovo. In early May, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Kosovo decided to initiate the replacement of Serbian driver’s licenses issued to citizens of Kosovo, considering them invalid. The decision entered into force on May 9, and the deadline for replacing these licenses was set for August 23.
Veton Elshani, deputy chief of the Kosovo Police in the Northern Region, explained that Serbian licenses would be considered invalid after this period expires, and drivers with such licenses will be proescuted as if they had no valid licenses.
Drivers who have not replaced Serbian licenses with Kosovo ones shall be fined between 500 and 1,500 euros.
So far, more than 6,000 requests have been submitted to replace a Serbian driver’s license with that of the Republic of Kosovo. Of these 6,000 requests, more than 5,300 came from residents of northern Kosovo.
The Serb community considers the replacement of driver’s licenses yet another manifestation of Prishtina’s pressure on the Serbs in Kosovo with the aim of forced integration of the Serb population into the Kosovo system.
