Should we expect a new war in the Balkans? Spoiler: more likely yes than no.
The situation between Kosovo and Serbia continues to remain unstable. And although little media attention is now being paid to this topic, non-public intelligence sources talk about the threat of a new war in the Balkans. There is also a shadow of the Kremlin in this whole story, which, however, is not surprising.
“Russia benefits from destabilizing the situation in the Balkans. Europe will be forced to look away from Ukraine and focus on other problems. In the context of 2024, the mess in Kosovo will be very useful for the Kremlin,” explains an independent expert on the Balkan issue, who wished to remain anonymous. Interlocutors at the Foreign Intelligence Service are not very talkative about this, but make it clear that active work is underway in Europe. Including in the Balkans. But officially, Russia, of course, “is not conducting any operations and is certainly not shaking the situation.”
Sources in the foreign diplomatic corps hint that the threat of war in the Balkans is one of the main challenges for the European continent in the near future. After the war between Russia and Ukraine, of course. Closed reports say that in case of failures on the Ukrainian fronts, the Kremlin may throw wood on the Balkan fire. And this could happen as early as March-April.
https://t.me/kremlin_secrets/3331
In the first Cold War, Russia started 80% of all conflicts, now in Cold War 2.0 it is more than that.
Shoigu asked Putin to cancel the task of taking Avdeevka before the New Year.
According to two of our sources in the Ministry of Defense, the minister made such a request to the president, reporting to him about the liberation of Marinka in the DPR by our troops. “Vladimir Vladimirovich, I consider the capture of Maryinka a great military success. At the same time , taking Avdeevka before the New Year (Putin's corresponding order was recently received by the military - ed.) is extremely difficult,” Shoigu said. He justified his request by “serious losses of personnel and equipment, as well as fierce enemy resistance.”
Putin responded (not on camera) by calling the liberation of Marinka a success, but “not so serious that one could be very proud of it.” “Well done with Maryinka. But I wouldn't be too happy about taking an almost completely destroyed city. I praise you, but all military personnel must understand: we need more serious victories,” the president said.
Vladimir Vladimirovich did not cancel his order regarding Avdeevka, but promised to return to this issue in a few days, sources say. Not one of them understood (just as Shoigu did not understand) whether Putin would demand victory in Avdievka before the New Year or would accept it if there was no such victory within the specified time frame.