Albanian Prime Minister Warns EU About Russia's Influence Over Balkan Affairs

Russia's visibility and influence on the Balkan region should be taken seriously by the European Union that, on the contrary, continues to demonstrate restraint in the Balkan nations, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama said on Wednesday at the EU-Western Balkans Summit hosted by the Friends of Europe Foundation in Brussels

ST.PETERSBURG (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 07th December, 2022) Russia's visibility and influence on the Balkan region should be taken seriously by the European Union that, on the contrary, continues to demonstrate restraint in the Balkan nations, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama said on Wednesday at the EU-Western Balkans Summit hosted by the Friends of Europe Foundation in Brussels.

"In countries like Northern Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, the Russian influence is present and the Russian danger is real.

This is why it is very important to keep the region together and to keep the EU and the region together, because if you have these layers of Russian influence, they are very active, combined with the EU approach which is, in contrary, not very active, then things can really mess up," Edi Rama said.

Leaders from the European Union and Western Balkan countries gathered in Albania on Tuesday to discuss how to boost ties between them and accelerate the accession process to the bloc.