The direct Russian interventions in Ukraine and Serbia, as well as the scandals of the U.S. presidential campaign, have overshadowed another ongoing Russian power play — one in the Balkans. It’s quieter and far less violent than other assertive moves by the Kremlin, but that doesn’t make it any less important in the 21st century re-enactment of the Great Game.
Like the former parts of the Russian empire and the Middle East, the Balkans are a longtime Russian playground. While Russia tended to look inward following the Soviet Union’s collapse, it could only manage a weak protest when the West oversaw a division of former Yugoslavia that punished traditionally pro-Russian Serbs. The Western view of these objections at the time was aptly described in a recently declassified Central Intelligence Agency analysis from 1993:
https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-01-19/russia-re-enacts-the-great-game-in-the-balkans
