1UA TV

Girls with big white hair bows and boys in blazers held hands as they lined up for their first day back to school in Moscow, with parents watching proudly and, for some including Sergei Angelov, anxiously.

Like children across Russia, Angelov’s 12-year-old daughter will study the country’s new militarized curriculum, amid Moscow’s grinding assault in Ukraine that has seen increasingly frequent strikes on the Russian capital.

“We are living in difficult times,” the 39-year-old driver said.  “All sorts of things are happening and can happen.”

Nineteen months after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his troops in Ukraine, drones now hit Moscow almost daily.

The conflict has spilled to schools, with a new program designed to instill the Kremlin’s version of events in Ukraine to younger generations.

Since the beginning of the offensive Russia had already introduced patriotic lectures called “Important Conversations.”

For the start of the new school year, Putin taught the flagship lecture in front of 30 teenagers selected for their academic achievements.

“We were absolutely invincible” during World War II, Putin said, “and we are the same now.”

The Russian leader also opened a new school via video-call in the southeastern Ukrainian city of Mariupol, which was razed to the ground last spring before being seized by the Russian army.

Moscow-installed officials, who since the city’s capture have undertaken to erase Ukrainian symbols from public spaces, rolled out a long Russian flag across the center of the city.

‘Courage and heroism’

Russian children’s updated school program includes basic military training, reviving a Soviet-era subject that had long been abandoned.

Teachers are also to use a new history textbook praising the offensive, written under the curation of Putin’s hardliner ally Vladimir Medinsky.

More than 2,000 kilometers east in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg, local history teacher Tatiana Barabanova applauded the course book, whose cover features Putin’s flagship bridge linking annexed Crimea to Russia’s mainland.

“Young people are disorientated by various mass fakes slandering our country,” she said, using terms reminiscent of Putin’s speeches.

“In this new textbook, there are very clear examples of courage and heroism,” she said.

The book praises Russia’s assault on Ukraine and features sections explaining Moscow was “saving peace” in 2014 when it annexed Crimea.

Her colleague, first aid and sports teacher Yelena Sobachkina, meanwhile, showed off gas masks and plastic hands with fake wounds that will be used in the new primary military preparation courses.

“They will understand what military service is like,” Sobachkina said, adding it was aimed at 15- to 18-year -olds.

She said the school would also introduce the teens to “tactical training and theoretical training of combat drones.”

Sobachkina plans to bring soldiers from the Ukraine front to speak to her students.

‘Prepare the children’

Sergei Varalov welcomed the prospect of seeing his child getting more teaching on the conflict in Ukraine.

“The political situation is such that the whole world has collapsed on us,” the 55-year-old builder said.

He also expressed support for military trainings and increased patriotic education.

“We need to prepare (the children),” he said, while clarifying, “I am not saying that it should be like North Korea.”

Back in Moscow, 83-year-old Nina Ivanova, watched her grandson start his new job as a teacher.

The pensioner hoped the job would “relieve him from the army” in the event that Russia would introduce another mobilization.

In the crowd, painter Irina Dobrokhotova, just back from annexed-Crimea, was dropping her son Daniil to school.

“There are reasons for concerns … You just need to be prepared for anything and not be afraid,” Dobrokhotova said.

But she added: “Everyone is hoping for the best.”           
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Ukraine shot down 22 of the 25 Iranian-made Shahed drones Russia launched into the southern Odesa region early Sunday, Ukraine’s Air Force posted on Telegram early Sunday.

Odesa houses ports that are vital for Ukraine’s grain shipments, following the collapse of U.N.-brokered deal that allowed Ukraine to ship its grain through the Black Sea.

It was not immediately clear whether one of the ports had been hit in the Russian attack on Ukraine.

There were no immediate comments from Russia.

One of Ukraine’s richest men was taken into custody Saturday on suspicion of fraud and money laundering.

Ihor Kolomoisky’s arrest comes as Kyiv is trying to show progress in its wartime crackdown on corruption.

A Ukrainian court set Kolomoisky’s bail at $14 million, but his defense lawyers said he would not post bail, broadcaster Radio Liberty reported; instead he will remain in custody for two months while he appeals the ruling, whose legality he questions.

Kolomoisky was sanctioned by the U.S. in 2021 “due to his involvement in significant corruption.” The U.S. suspects that Kolomoisky and a partner laundered money through the United States, which Kolomoisky denies.

He supported then-candidate Volodymyr Zelenskyy during the 2019 presidential elections in Ukraine.

In his nightly video address Saturday, President Zelenskyy thanked “Ukrainian law enforcement officials for their resolve in bringing to a just outcome each and every one of the cases that have been hindered for decades.”

Zelenskyy has made it a priority to crush graft and illicit financial dealings among officials and well-connected businessmen. Kolomoisky, one of Ukraine’s billionaire oligarchs, is the most prominent figure to have become a target. Zelenskyy is moving to equate wartime corruption with treason.

The White House has noted the progress Ukraine has made in combatting graft and in safeguarding the autonomy of crucial government institutions.

In a meeting with a delegation of the heads of Ukrainian anti-corruption institutions Friday, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan underscored the vital importance of independent, impartial law enforcement and judicial institutions to any democratic society. He also reiterated Washington’s steadfast support for anti-corruption reforms in Ukraine and “for Ukraine’s brave defense of its democracy against Russian aggression.”

‘We are on the move’

Zelenskyy touted Ukraine’s steady advances against Russian forces Saturday and derided Western criticism of Ukraine’s grinding counteroffensive.

“Ukrainian forces are moving forward. Despite everything, and no matter what anyone says, we are advancing, and that is the most important thing. We are on the move,” Zelenskyy wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

His comments come amid U.S. concerns about the slow pace of the operation and Western reports questioning Ukrainian strategy in the three-month counteroffensive.

Ukrainian forces have retaken about a dozen villages but no major settlements. Their advances are being impeded by myriad Russian minefields and subsequent defensive lines.

John Kirby, National Security Council coordinator, told reporters Friday that Ukraine made “notable progress” in the southern Zaporizhzhia region, though he cautioned it “is not beyond the realm of the possible that Russia will react” to Ukraine’s push.

Ukrainian troops advance

In its daily battlefield update, the Ukrainian military reported no new breakthroughs but said its troops broke through Russia’s outer defense perimeter and continued to advance toward Melitopol, a major Russian-occupied urban center in the Zaporizhzhia region.

Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar acknowledged Friday that Kyiv’s troops, who have been trudging through heavily mined areas for almost three months, had now run into major defensive Russian fortifications.

“Where we have already moved to the next line … the enemy is much more fortified there and, in addition to the mining, we also see concrete fortifications, for example, under the main commanding heights, and our armed forces have to overcome a lot of obstacles in order to move forward,” she said.

Kirby noted that Ukrainians are aware there are tough battles ahead and added that detractors of the Ukrainian counteroffensive are not “helpful to the overarching effort to make sure that Ukraine can succeed, and they are.”

Russia says it thwarts attack

Russia said early Saturday it had thwarted a naval drone attack on a bridge that links the Russian mainland with the Crimean Peninsula.

In messages posted to Telegram, the Russian Defense Ministry said three semisubmersible unmanned boats, “sent by the Kyiv regime to carry out a terrorist attack on the Crimean bridge” were destroyed in the Black Sea — one late Friday and two early Saturday.

The bridge was built after Russia annexed Crimea in 2014. Completed in 2018, the bridge has been targeted throughout Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, including an attack in July that caused major damage to the bridge and killed two people.

Grain deal talks scheduled

Two cargo vessels have sailed from Ukraine’s Black Sea ports despite fears of Russian attacks, maritime officials said Saturday.

Ukraine’s infrastructure minister says the Anna-Theresa, a Liberian-flagged bulk carrier carrying 56,000 metric tons of pig iron, left the Ukrainian port of Yuzhny on Friday. A second vessel, the Ocean Courtesy, left the same port with 172,000 metric tons of iron ore concentrate.

The minister said the vessels sailed through a temporary corridor for civilian ships from Ukraine’s Black Sea ports to the Bosporus. The ships are using the interim corridor established by Ukraine’s government after Russia quit the Black Sea Grain Initiative, a wartime agreement aimed at ensuring safe grain exports from Ukraine.

On Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin is scheduled to hold talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the Black Sea resort of Sochi. According to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, the talks are part of an effort to revive the U.N.-brokered Black Sea grain deal.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan met Friday with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu in Moscow to discuss grain exports ahead of the Erdogan-Putin meeting.

VOA U.N. Correspondent Margaret Besheer contributed to this story. Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy touted Ukraine’s steady advances against Russian forces Saturday and derided Western criticism of Ukraine’s grinding counteroffensive.  

“Ukrainian forces are moving forward. Despite everything, and no matter what anyone says, we are advancing, and that is the most important thing. We are on the move,” Zelenskyy wrote on the Telegram messaging app. 

Zelenskyy’s comments come amid U.S. concerns about the slow pace of the operation and Western reports questioning Ukrainian strategy in the three-month counteroffensive.  

Ukrainian forces have retaken about a dozen villages but no major settlements. Their advances are being impeded by myriad Russian minefields and subsequent defensive lines. 

John Kirby, National Security Council spokesman, told reporters Friday that Ukraine made “notable progress” in the southern Zaporizhzhia region, though he cautioned it “is not beyond the realm of the possible that Russia will react” to Ukraine’s push.   

In its daily battlefield update, the Ukrainian military reported no new breakthroughs but said its troops broke through Russia’s outer defense perimeter and continued to advance toward Melitopol, a major Russian-occupied urban center in the Zaporizhzhia region. 

Ukraine’s military reported 45 combat clashes on the front lines since midday Friday and said fighting raged in the east where Ukrainian troops had repelled multiple Russian attacks. 

Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar acknowledged Friday that Kyiv’s troops, who have been trudging through heavily mined areas for almost three months, had now run into major defensive Russian fortifications.  

“Where we have already moved to the next line … the enemy is much more fortified there and, in addition to the mining, we also see concrete fortifications, for example, under the main commanding heights, and our armed forces have to overcome a lot of obstacles in order to move forward,” she said.  

Kirby noted that Ukrainians are aware there are tough battles ahead and added that detractors of the Ukrainian counteroffensive are not “helpful to the overarching effort to make sure that Ukraine can succeed, and they are.”  

There are fears the West’s support could begin to fade as colder and wetter weather sets in, slowing the pace on the battlefield later in the year. The West has poured billions of dollars to support the counteroffensive and Kyiv says it needs more. 

Kirby also said he could not confirm reports Friday that Russia’s nuclear-capable Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missiles had been put on combat duty.  

The Sarmat reportedly can carry up to 15 nuclear warheads. Known to NATO military allies by the codename “Satan,” the missile reportedly has a short initial launch phase, which gives little time for surveillance systems to track its takeoff. 

Weighing more than 200 tons, the Sarmat has a range of about 18,000 kilometers and was developed to replace Russia’s older generation of intercontinental ballistic missile that dates to the 1980s. 

Russia says it thwarts attack

Russia said early Saturday it thwarted a naval drone attack on a bridge that links the Russian mainland with the Crimean Peninsula.     

In messages posted to Telegram, the Russian Defense Ministry said three semisubmersible unmanned boats, “sent by the Kyiv regime to carry out a terrorist attack on the Crimean bridge” were destroyed in the Black Sea — one late Friday and two early Saturday.   

The bridge was built after Russia annexed Crimea in 2014. Completed in 2018, the bridge has been targeted throughout Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, including an attack in July that caused major damage to the bridge and killed two people.   

Ukraine claimed responsibility for the July strike but so far has not commented on Russia’s claim it prevented another attack.   

Ukraine’s anti-corruption efforts   

Ukrainian state security officials named Ukrainian tycoon Ihor Kolomoisky as a suspect in a fraud and money laundering case, the SBU security service said Saturday. 

Zelenskyy has made it a priority to crush graft and illicit financial dealings among officials and well-connected businessmen. Kolomoisky, one of Ukraine’s richest men, is the most prominent figure to have become a target. Zelenskyy is moving to equate wartime corruption with treason.  

U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan met Friday with a delegation of the heads of Ukrainian anti-corruption institutions, including the director of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine, Semen Kryvonos, Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor Oleksandr Klymenko, and Vira Mykhailenko, the chief justice of the High Anti-Corruption Court, according to the White House.  

The officials discussed the progress Ukraine has made in combatting graft and in safeguarding the autonomy of crucial government institutions.   

Sullivan underscored the importance of independent, impartial law enforcement and judicial institutions to any democratic society. He also reiterated Washington’s steadfast support for anti-corruption reforms in Ukraine and “for Ukraine’s brave defense of its democracy against Russian aggression.” 

Efforts to revive grain deal

Two cargo vessels have sailed from Ukraine’s Black Sea ports despite fears of Russian attacks, maritime officials said Saturday.  

Ukraine’s infrastructure minister says the Anna-Theresa, a Liberian-flagged bulk carrier carrying 56,000 metric tons of pig iron, left the Ukrainian port of Yuzhny on Friday. A second vessel, the Ocean Courtesy, left the same port with 172,000 metric tons of iron ore concentrate.  

The minister said the vessels sailed through a temporary corridor for civilian ships from Ukraine’s Black Sea ports to the Bosporus. The ships are using the interim corridor established by Ukraine’s government after Russia quit the Black Sea Grain Initiative, a wartime agreement aimed at ensuring safe grain exports from Ukraine.  

On Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin is scheduled to hold talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the Black Sea resort of Sochi. According to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, the talks are part of an effort to revive the U.N.-brokered Black Sea grain deal.  

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan met with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu in Moscow on Friday to discuss grain exports ahead of the Erdogan-Putin meeting.  

For nearly a year, the initiative helped facilitate the export of nearly 33 million metric tons of grain and other foodstuffs from Ukraine via the Black Sea, helping to bring down global food prices, which spiked after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. Russia was also receiving help in facilitating its own grain and fertilizer exports.  

VOA’s United Nations Correspondent Margaret Besheer contributed to this story. Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.   
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A controversial investment deal with China has failed to meet Italy’s expectations, Rome’s top diplomat said Saturday ahead of a visit to Beijing, as speculation mounts that Italy will withdraw. 

In 2019, the highly indebted economy became the only nation from the G7 club of industrialized countries to take part in China’s Belt and Road Initiative. 

Chinese President Xi Jinping’s ambitious program, consisting of massive investments in infrastructure such as ports, railways and airports, aims to improve trade ties between Asia, Africa and Europe. 

Critics say the plan is a Trojan horse to increase Beijing’s influence. 

The deal is due to be renewed automatically in March 2024 unless Italy withdraws this year. 

“We want to continue to work closely with China, but we must also analyze exports; the Belt and Road Initiative has not produced the results we were hoping for,” Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani told an economic forum. 

Tajani said Italian exports to China in 2022 were worth 16.5 billion euros ($17.8 billion), whereas the figures for France and Germany were much higher at 23 billion and 107 billion euros respectively. 

Tajani will meet Chinese authorities during his trip to Beijing from Sunday to Tuesday and prepare a planned visit by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni that some experts believe will confirm Italy’s exit from the deal. 

The withdrawal “has likely already been agreed in principle with Chinese authorities,” Lorenzo Codogno, a former chief economist at the Italian treasury, said in a note. 

Meloni “will make the official announcement during her state visit to Beijing, expected by mid-October, as a sign of respect for China’s leadership,” but the Italian parliament will have the final say, he added. 

Meloni’s predecessor Mario Draghi froze the agreement and blocked large-scale Chinese investment in sectors deemed of strategic importance.  
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Two cargo vessels have left Ukraine despite Russian threats and are in the Black Sea, maritime officials said Saturday.

The Anna-Theresa, a Liberian-flagged bulk carrier holding 56,000 tons of pig iron, left the Ukrainian port of Yuzhny on Friday and is now close to Bulgarian territorial waters, said Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov.

A second vessel — the Ocean Courtesy, traveling under a Marshall Islands flag — left the same port on Friday with 172,000 tons of iron ore concentrate. That ship arrived at the Romanian Black Sea port of Constanta shortly before noon on Saturday, according to the global ship tracking website MarineTraffic. The website did not state whether the vessel is set to move on from the Romanian port.

The two vessels sailed through a temporary corridor for civilian ships from Ukraine’s Black Sea ports to the Bosporus, Kubrakov said on the social media site X, formerly known as Twitter. The corridor goes along the western shores of the Black Sea, avoiding international waters and instead using those controlled by NATO members Romania and Bulgaria.

On Saturday, authorities at the Bulgarian port of Varna did not confirm whether the Anna-Theresa will enter the port or continue to the Bosporus Strait.

The ships were the third and fourth vessels that used the interim corridor established by Ukraine’s government after Russia halted a wartime agreement aimed at ensuring safe grain exports from Ukraine. The vessels had been docked in Ukrainian Black Sea ports since before Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbor.

Their departure coincided with the official announcement of a meeting on Monday between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The high-level talks in Russia’s Black Sea resort of Sochi come just over six weeks after Moscow broke off a deal brokered by Ankara and the United Nations that allowed Ukrainian grain to reach world markets safely despite the 18-month war.
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Ukrainian state security officials named powerful businessman Ihor Kolomoisky as a suspect in a fraud and money laundering case, the SBU security service said on Saturday.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has made cracking down on corruption a priority as Ukraine battles Russia’s 18-month-old invasion. Kolomoisky, one of Ukraine’s richest men, is the most prominent figure to have become a target.

Zelenskyy, who rose to prominence as a comedian and played the role of president on a show aired on a Kolomoisky-owned TV channel, has denied having personal ties to the businessman.

“It was established that during 2013-2020, Ihor Kolomoisky legalized more than half a billion hryvnias [$14 million] by withdrawing them abroad and using the infrastructure of the controlled banks,” the SBU said in a statement on the Telegram messaging app.

Kolomoisky could not be reached for comment.

The security service published pictures of a group of detectives at the door of his home, with Kolomoisky receiving and signing documents.

Kolomoisky is a former owner of leading Ukrainian bank PrivatBank, which was nationalized in late 2016 as part of a major clean-up of the country’s banking system.

Earlier this year security officials searched Kolomoisky’s home in connection with a separate investigation into embezzlement and tax evasion at the country’s two largest oil companies, which were partially owned by the businessman.

Kolomoisky owned an array of assets in the energy, banking and other sectors, including one of Ukraine’s most influential television channels.

The United States sanctioned Kolomoisky in 2021 “due to his involvement in significant corruption.” U.S. authorities have also alleged Kolomoisky and a business partner laundered stolen funds through the United States. Kolomoisky has denied any wrongdoing.
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The Nobel Foundation on Saturday retracted its invitation for representatives of Russia, Belarus and Iran to attend this year’s Nobel Prize award ceremonies after the controversial decision “provoked strong reactions.”

Several Swedish lawmakers said Friday they would boycott this year’s Nobel Prize award ceremonies in the Swedish capital, Stockholm, after the private foundation that administers the prestigious awards changed its position from a year earlier and invited representatives of the three countries to attend.

Some of the lawmakers cited Russia’s war on Ukraine and the crackdown on human rights in Iran as reasons for their boycott.

The Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson told media outlets Friday that he wouldn’t allow Russian representatives to attend the ceremony this year if given the choice.

“The basis for the decision is that we believe that it is important and right to reach out as widely as possible with the values and messages that the Nobel Prize stands for,” the Nobel Foundation said in a brief statement.

The foundation said it recognized “the strong reactions in Sweden, which completely overshadowed this message” and chose not to invite “the ambassadors of Russia, Belarus and Iran to the Nobel Prize award ceremony in Stockholm.”

However, it said that it would follow its usual practice and invite all ambassadors to the ceremony in Oslo at which the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded.

The Nobel Foundation said earlier it had extended invitations to all countries with diplomatic missions in Sweden and Norway to the December 10 event since that “promotes opportunities to convey the important messages of the Nobel Prize to everyone.”
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Russian authorities on Friday declared journalist Dmitry Muratov, a winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, to be a foreign agent, continuing the country’s moves to suppress critics and independent reporting.

Russian law allows for individuals and organizations receiving funding from abroad to be declared foreign agents, a pejorative term that potentially undermines their credibility with the Russian public. The status also requires designees to mark any publications with a disclaimer stating they are foreign agents.

Muratov was chief editor of Novaya Gazeta, which was widely respected abroad for its investigative reporting and was frequently critical of the Kremlin. Muratov was a co-laureate of the 2021 Nobel prize; he later put up his Nobel medal for auction, receiving $103.5 million which he said would be used to aid refugee children from Ukraine.

After Russia enacted harsh laws to punish statements that criticized its military actions in Ukraine or were found to discredit Russian soldiers, Novaya Gazeta announced it would suspend publication until the conflict ended.

Many of its journalists started a new publication called Novaya Gazeta Europe that is based in Latvia.

In recent years, Russia has methodically targeted people and organizations critical of the Kremlin, branding many as “foreign agents.” It has has branded some as “undesirable” under a 2015 law that makes membership in such organizations a criminal offense.

It also has imprisoned prominent opposition figures including anti-corruption campaigner AlexeyAl Navalny, who is President Vladimir Putin’s most persistent domestic foe, and dissidents Vladimir Kara-Murza and Ilya Yashin.
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Britain’s Education Department has ordered more than 150 schools to shut down buildings constructed with RAAC, a type of concrete that is prone to collapse. The decision came just days before the fall term is set to start, drawing ire from parents, teachers and politicians.

A roof beam gave way over the summer, prompting the British government to examine the risks of RAAC, Schools Minister Nick Gibb told the BBC recently. The past few months have seen a number of instances where buildings containing RAAC suddenly failed, both at schools and elsewhere.

Reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete, or RAAC, is lightweight and was used in construction until the mid-1990s. RAAC has a lifespan of about 30 years.

Education Secretary Gillian Keegan described the government’s decision as a “cautious approach.” She reassured the public that most affected schools would remain open because the faulty concrete was found in limited areas.

But some campuses face total closure, sending teachers and parents scrambling for alternatives from relocating students to neighboring schools to reviving coronavirus-era distance learning.

Part of the shock of the government’s announcement is that it has long known about the risks of RAAC. More than 50 school buildings with RAAC have been closed in the past over safety concerns.

In June, the watchdog group National Audit Office reported about the dangers that school buildings constructed with RAAC pose to students and teachers. It cited a strong likelihood of injury or death from a building imploding.

These developments follow six months of teachers’ strikes across the United Kingdom spurred by charges of underfunding and poor government outreach.

Critics from all sides describe the mass closures as a debacle. Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the National Education Union, said in a statement that the situation reflected “gross government incompetence … ”

In the run-up to the general election expected in 2024, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will have to consider how to win the public’s confidence and counter ridicule over his efforts in infrastructure and education.

Some information for this report was provided by The Associated Press and Reuters.
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Poland plans to double its armed forces to 300,000 by 2035 with a combination of professional soldiers and volunteers. As Lesia Bakalets reports, Russia’s full-scale invasion of neighboring Ukraine has triggered a huge number of Poles from all walks of life to sign up as volunteers. Camera: Daniil Batushchak
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In July, a group of 56 European and American lawmakers sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell and U.K. Foreign Secretary James Cleverly, demanding a tougher Western policy toward Serbia, primarily regarding its relations with Kosovo.

“We are asking for balance and proportionality to return in dealing with Kosovo and Serbia,” the Western officials wrote, adding that the current approach is not working.

Serbia does not recognize Kosovo’s independence, which it declared in 2008, and tensions have been a constant between the two countries since then. This year, there have been several flare-ups in northern Kosovo, where the ethnic Serbs are a majority of the population.

The letter was followed by articles in U.S. and German media outlets, such as CNN and Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, criticizing the West for perceived appeasement of Serbia, a Western Balkan country that the United States and its allies hope to persuade to join in sanctions on Russia over its war in Ukraine.

For Richard Kraemer, a fellow at the U.S. Foreign Policy Research Institute, the Western media coverage is no surprise: “These modest displays of discontent with Belgrade indicate that certain Western leaders are fed up with [Serbian President Aleksandar] Vucic’s manipulative shenanigans.”

On the other hand, Bodo Weber, political analyst and senior associate at the Democratization Policy Council in Berlin, said he does see the letter as evidence that the West is changing course toward Serbia or Vucic.

“That change would be welcome, but unfortunately, we don’t see such a turnaround in sight. Rather, the letter of a few Western parliamentarians attracted the attention of the Western media, which normally rarely write about the region,” Weber said in a written response to questions from VOA.

During a press conference in Belgrade at the beginning of August, Vucic claimed that he personally — and not the country — is being criticized for not recognizing the independence of Kosovo and for “defending the interests of the Serbian people in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro.”

U.S. Ambassador to Belgrade Christopher Hill defended the U.S. approach to relations with Vucic’s government in an exclusive interview with VOA’s Serbian Service.

“You have policies not just for success but because they are the right policies to have,” Hill said. “We weigh our interest in formulating a policy, and we proceed with it on the idea that this is the right thing for our government to do.”

Belgrade’s ties with Russia

Serbia is formally seeking EU membership and has condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine at the United Nations, yet it has maintained its historically friendly relations with Moscow.

“Everyone should join sanctions, certainly countries aspiring to join Europe,” Hill said. “We think that is the right thing to do and would like to see Serbia do the same and march toward Euro-Atlantic systems.”

Johanna Deimel, a German expert on the Balkans, pointed to published reports, based on a leaked U.S. intelligence document, that Serbia has quietly agreed to provide arms to Ukraine for its defense against the Russian invasion.

“On one hand, Belgrade has been criticized for refusing to join the EU sanctions against Russia, and on the other hand, it seems that, for example, arms deliveries to Ukraine are helping to turn a blind eye elsewhere,” she said.

She also said efforts to align Serbia more closely with the West are complicated by Russian influence in the region’s media and its investments in the energy sector in the Balkans.

Kraemer noted that Serbia is almost entirely dependent on natural gas supplies from Russia and maintains trade and military ties with Moscow, while pro-Russian sentiments are high in the country.

The West “has bent over backwards to try and lure Belgrade into the transatlantic fold with carrots while looking from the sidelines at Serbia’s proxy status vis-a-vis the Kremlin’s Balkan agenda,” he said.

“Why they thought this would work, considering Vucic’s overt refusal to get on board concerning Ukraine, remains a mystery to me.”

In the July letter, the U.S. and EU lawmakers criticized Vucic for close ties and support to Milorad Dodik, the nationalist president of the Republic of Srpska in neighboring Bosnia and Herzegovina. Dodik has been sanctioned by the United States for “undermining the Dayton peace accords,” a U.S.-sponsored agreement that ended the Balkan war in the 1990s.

Another obstacle to better relations between Belgrade and the West is the pro-Russian stance of Serbian spy chief Aleksandar Vulin, who has been sanctioned by the United States for alleged involvement in illegal arms shipments, drug trafficking and misuse of public office.

“The Treasury Department’s sanctioning of Vulin — unprecedented as he is a sitting Serbian government official — can be rightly interpreted as a warning,” Kraemer said. “It remains to be seen whether Washington and its partners have the gumption to sanction others of similar ilk to Vulin.”

In his interview with VOA, Hill said the dispute over Vulin, whom Vucic has refused to sack, has not derailed the Western outreach to Belgrade.

“Our sanctions are not against the institutions but on the individual. We continue to work with Serbia in areas where we can find agreement,” he said.

The issue of Kosovo

U.S.-Serbian relations are also troubled by Belgrade’s refusal to recognize the sovereignty of Kosovo, which declared its independence from Serbia in 2008, almost a decade after U.S.-led NATO forces intervened to stop the ethnic cleansing of ethnic Albanians by the Serbian government.

A U.S. State Department study concluded that at least 6,000 Kosovar Albanians had been the victims of mass murder by Serbian forces in 1999.

The latest tensions flared in April when ethnic Serbs boycotted local elections held in northern Kosovo, where they are a majority. That led to the election of ethnic Albanian mayors, who moved into their offices with the help of Kosovo’s riot police.

Serbs tried to prevent the new mayors from taking over the premises, but the police fired tear gas to disperse them. Serbs engaged in fierce clashes with NATO peacekeepers, leaving more than 50 rioters and 30 international troops injured.

The election boycott followed a collective resignation by Serb officials from the area, including administrative staff, judges and police officers, in November 2022.

During EU-mediated talks between Vucic and Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti, the two were reported to have reached an agreement in Ohrid, a lake town in neighboring North Macedonia, to normalize their relations.

However, this agreement has not been implemented, and each side accuses the other of stalling the process.

According to Deimel, the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina “needs a complete reset.”

“It is incomprehensible to me why Josep Borell, the head of European diplomacy, and others praised the ‘Ohrid Agreement’ so much,” Deimel said. “It was a serious attempt, a concrete German-French proposal on the table, and then Vucic walks out the door and says that he did not sign the agreement.”

Hill said that the Kosovo issue is of some urgency and that progress toward its resolution is necessary.
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