Turkey plans to buy weapons from Russia

Turkey has signed a deal for the purchase of SA-21 Growler missiles from Russia worth 2.5 billion US dollars and President Recep Erdogan has confirmed that by saying the first payment for the delivery has already been made. Observers have commented that the deal has cased concerns among Turkey’s NATO allies. A few months ago the Pentagon warned that such a move could stand in the way of cooperation between the Turkish Armed Forces and other NATO countries. The deal has come at a moment of tense relations between the Alliance and Russia and last week its Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that the world today was more unpredictable that at any other moment of his 30-year career.

Albanian parliament appoints new government

The Albanian parliament has appointed a new government led by the old prime minister, Edi Rama from the Socialist Party of Albania. The prime minister vowed to cut government debt, achieve 5% economic growth at the end of the third year of his term, open 220,000 new jobs and cut poverty. He also vowed to continue reform in justice, combat organized crime and carry out infrastructure projects.

Vucic predicts fierce internal dialogue for Kosovo

A new stage of the internal dialogue for Kosovo will open in October, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said and announced that as a head of state he had supported the decision of the Serb List in Kosovo to be part of the new government in Pristina. The president also said that so far Serbia had had no policy for Kosovo and forecast that internal dialogue about it would be fierce, but tolerant and serious and would be conducted at the level of parliament, other institutions and various forums. The head of state vowed that PM Ana Brnabic had his “full support”.

Greek-Serbian gas terminal project planned

Greece has proposed to Serbia to join construction and become shareholder in the future natural gas terminal at the Greek port of Alexandroupoli. Athens has proposed to Belgrade to own 20% of the facility, equal to the stakes of the Greek gas transiting company DEPA and the Bulgarian Energy Holding. The rest of the stock will be sold to private companies. From the terminal in question the gas pipeline will reach the Greek port of Komotini and then the Bulgarian city of Stara Zagora where from it will continue to Dimitrovgrad in Serbia and possibly to Nis.

Slovenia: time for Macedonia to enter NATO

Meeting with Macedonian PM Zoran Zaev in Skopje the Speaker of the National Assembly of Slovenia Milan Brglez has hailed positive changes recently underway in of Macedonia and in its relations with neighboring countries. Brglez has vowed that Slovenia will support the Euro-Atlantic integration of Macedonia and has voiced the stance that it is time it became member of NATO.  .

Romanian authorities rescue stranded trawler with 150 migrants on board

The Romanian authorities have seized a stranded trawler in the Black Sea with nearly 150 migrants on board. On the eve of Wednesday, the Coast Guard and Navy conducted a rescue operation after a call for help from the vessel, about 60 km off the coast. The migrants are nationals of Iraq and Iran, according to unconfirmed reports. In border police figures, the number of illegal attempts to enter Romania since the beginning of the year is already 80% up compared to last year.

Compiled by Stoimen Pavlov

English Daniela Konstantinova