Kievan Rus'

MINSK - Serbia is Belarus's key economic partner in the Balkans, Belarusian PM Andrei Kobyakov said Thursday.

Belarus is committed to long-term cooperation with Serbia, Kobyakov said after a meeting with Serbian PM Aleksandar Vucic, welcoming the signing of a road map for bilateral cooperation, aimed at creating optimal conditions for economic ties.

Donald Trump's victory may leave Ukraine alone and frightened.

The fear is that the newly-elected US President will prefer warm relations with Moscow to the annoyance of supporting Ukraine - a country which he described during his campaign as a "mess".

A meeting of "Ukrainian organisation against Russian aggression" has been held in Sofia, reported BNT.
More than 60 countries participated with different initiatives.

The purpose is to appeal to authorities, and the Bulgarian government in particular, to support Ukraine in ending military actions on the part of Russia.

Russia has launched a behind-the-curtains campaign of economic and political measures in order to manipulate five countries in Central and Eastern Europe, to discredit the Western liberal democratic model and undermine transatlantic relations, showed a survey of the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington and the Bulgarian Center for the Study of Democracy.

Russia's "information campaigns in the Balkans" are part of its "strategy to create a perception of Russia as a great power and powerful ally."

There, is, however "little substance behind it in investments or donations to the nations involved," writes the Washington Post.

Imposing sanctions on Moscow would be disastrous above all for Serbia itself, Russian Ambassador Aleksandr Chepurin has told the daily Vecernje Novosti.

Chepurin also said that "the tendency has changed" and that he expects Russia's relations with the EU and the U.S. to be "revitalized - but based on equal rights."

Dmitry Medvedev says the Dutch rejection of the EU-Ukraine treaty on closer political and economic ties "shows Europe's attitude to Ukraine's political system."

The Russian prime minister's reaction on Twitter on Thursday came after Dutch voters overwhelmingly rejected the EU-Ukraine free trade agreement in what AFP said was "a blow to the European Union."

Serbian Economy Minister Zeljko Sertic met in Minsk on Monday with representatives of the Belarus Trade and Industry Ministries.

They discussed opportunities to improve economic cooperation between the two countries and expanding business activities of companies, Tanjug said.

Russian media have published video footage showing a NATO jet flying along Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu's plane.

This took place above neutral waters of the Baltic Sea.

Can Turkey turn into a little Russia? That is what businesspeople ask me these days. They see the current government not for what it is, but what it is not: Liberal. And they want to know whether this illiberalism can grow in strength.