Monday Briefing from the Balkans: February 9, 2026
Catch up on the weekend’s most important developments with Balkan Insight’s digest of news from countries across the region. KAYNAK: Balkan Insight
Week in Review: Saviours, Crypto Fugitives and Unlikely Friendships
A Canadian on the run in Bosnia, an Albanian’s controversial jaunt to Israel and a Brit looking to the Balkans for possible salvation – this week’s selection of Balkan Insight…
We Were Always Here: The Balkans Should Honour Its LGBTQ+ Pioneers
Balkan LGBTQ+ people, both in the region and in the diaspora, are often told that their identities are incompatible. It’s time to hear a different story – and learn more…
Bulgaria’s Latest Self-Proclaimed ‘Saviour’ Might Have Misread the Room
Having resigned the presidency, Rumen Radev thinks he’s about to ride to Bulgaria’s rescue in the upcoming parliamentary elections, but the electoral mathematics and voting realities of recent years are…
Week in Review: Plots, Twists and Chaos
Expecting the unexpected seems to be the name of the game in both global politics and the domestic politics of the region, as 2026 kicks off with a few unexpected…
US Company Carlyle May Buy Sanctioned Lukoil’s Balkan Assets
Likely sale of the foreign assets of the US-sanctioned Russian oil giant will have important consequences for fuel supplies in Bulgaria, Romania and Serbia. KAYNAK: Balkan Insight
Letter from Washington: Trump Scores Big on Small Balkan Playing Field
Keen to show loyalty to the US president, some Balkan states signed up to Donald Trump’s contentious ‘Board of Peace’. Others, meanwhile, are looking to the US for new business…
Quitting as President, Radev Promises to ‘Rescue’ Bulgaria. Will it Work?
Having resigned the presidency a year early, Rumen Radev is widely expected to form his own party to contest parliamentary elections in the spring. But what are his chances? KAYNAK:…
Kosovo, Bulgaria, Turkey Join Trump’s ‘Board of Peace’
Kosovo, Bulgaria and Turkey have signed the Board of Peace Charter, under Donald Trump’s auspices, but several other Balkan countries are still pondering whether to join the initiative. KAYNAK: Balkan…
‘Balkan Nostradamus’: Baba Vanga’s Visions Still Flood Albania’s Media Landscape
The Bulgarian mystic’s doomy predictions continue to grab headlines in Albania and elsewhere – even though many seem fabricated and sometimes appear to serve Russian geopolitical narratives. KAYNAK: Balkan Insight