We are delighted to introduce the fourth issue of our ACM Briefs, The Russo-Ukraine crisis, and the Western Balkans: Associations and knock-on effects, published in January 2022. These Policy Briefs are a part of the bigger project funded by the Balkan Trust for Democracy (GMF) and USAID aimed at providing laser-sharp insights into the political and social trends in the region, strengthen dialogue, present concrete policy recommendations regarding pressing international and security issues in the Western Balkans.

This policy brief discusses the Ukraine crisis through the prism of the Western Balkans by looking at three particular aspects: first, it compares the two regional cases in terms of similarities and differences; second, it compares their links with the West and third, it looks at Russia’s influence on the Western Balkans in the shadow of the Ukraine conflict. It argues that while the Western Balkan countries are not frontline states in the Russo-`Ukrainian conflict, they are feeling its reverberations, with a risk of becoming a proxy hybrid battlefield in the increasing antagonism between Russia and the West.

You can access the ACM Brief via following link