Putin eyeing new ‘playground’ after Ukraine

While the conflict in Ukraine continues despite initial, now-stalled negotiations, the United Kingdom is warning that Vladimir Putin is shifting his focus to other regions.

The Russian leader is reportedly eyeing the former Yugoslav states — which dissolved in 2003 after several conflicts and a NATO intervention — as London urges European countries to take action to counter Russian influence in the area.

"At this time, with war in Europe and seeing the long hand of Russian interference also in the region, you would be a fool if you took your eye off the Western Balkans, where there are still legacy issues that are yet to be overcome," British Foreign Secretary David Lammy told Politico last week.

"Putin’s interests here are to keep the region destabilized. It’s in his interests to keep the countries that make up the Western Balkans on edge, to have a destabilized population, and to wage a cyber and hybrid war," he added.

The former Yugoslav nations — Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Slovenia, Serbia, and Montenegro — continue to face tensions two decades after Yugoslavia's breakup.

"Right now they must move forward or they will continue to be Russia’s playground," one British official said anonymously.

(QG - Source: Politico - Picture : © Unsplash)