Description
The strategic geographic location of the Western Balkans at the intersection of Europe and Asia has been turning the region into one of the focal points of the emerging great power competition. As the post-war conflict processes have not culminated into a stable peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia-Kosovo, these two frozen conflicts are potentially the most affected by the calibrations in the foreign policies of the major actors towards the region: be it the European Union’s enlargement fatigue or Russia’s assertiveness to divert Euro-Atlantic integration. This study will focus on Moscow’s growing influence in Serbia and Bosnia’s Republika Srpska and how Kremlin’s assertive policies reflect on these actors’ attitudes towards the Western-led normalisation processes. Moscow’s subversive tools such as the utilisation of the Orthodox Church, media, electoral interventions will also be discussed as to how they are pragmatically used and emulated by the local actors.
