—🇽🇰 NEW: Political analysts say tensions between PM Albin Kurti and President Vjosa Osmani have further escalated, as their once-allied camps now openly clash over the dissolution of parliament, the stalled election of a new head of state, and Kosovo’s positioning with key international partners, including the United States.

➡️ The deepening rift comes after Osmani’s controversial move to dissolve the Assembly and Kurti’s challenge at the Constitutional Court, turning their personal split into a full-blown institutional standoff ahead of new snap elections.

✅ @balkanspectator — the leading Balkan news channel in English

—🇩🇪❌🇺🇸 NEW: German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius has ruled out sending German warships to help the United States reopen the Strait of Hormuz amid the war with Iran.

➡️ He said that “this is not our war, we have not started it,” and questioned what “a handful or two handfuls of European frigates” could do that the powerful U.S. Navy cannot.

✅ @balkanspectator — the leading Balkan news channel in English

—🇬🇷❌🇺🇸 NEW: Greece will not participate in any military operations in the Strait of Hormuz, government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis said on Monday.

➡️ He stressed that Athens will limit its involvement to the EU naval mission Aspides in the Red Sea and has no intention of being drawn into war.

✅ @balkanspectator — the leading Balkan news channel in English

—❗️🇸🇮 Black Cube spy scandal rocks Slovenia’s election campaign

➡️ Investigative outlet Mladina reports that senior executives from Israeli private intelligence firm Black Cube, including CEO Dan Zorella and retired Major General Giora Eiland, flew into Ljubljana on a private jet on 22 December 2025 and met opposition SDS leader and ex-PM Janez Janša at party headquarters.

➡️ In the months after the visit, covertly recorded videos of government officials and allies began appearing on an anonymous English-language “anti-corruption” website, as further reports allege Black Cube operatives posed as representatives of a fake British fund to secretly record Slovenian political figures ahead of the 22 March election.

🔗 Dunav Intel

✅ @balkanspectator — the leading Balkan news channel in English

—🇺🇸❌🇺🇸 NEW: President Donald Trump declared that the United States “no longer needs or desires” assistance from NATO allies and partners, including Japan, South Korea and Australia.

➡️ He accused them of failing to support US operations against Iran and efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, after several governments, like Greece, declined to send warships or remained non-committal on his appeals.

✅ @balkanspectator — the leading Balkan news channel in English

—🇪🇸 NEW: 3 Serbian nationals attempted to violently abduct a Canadian crypto millionaire in Madrid.

➡️ On Monday night outside a trendy restaurant at the busy Claudio Coello–Jorge Juan intersection, the thiefs forced him into a Ford Transit van after beating and pepper-spraying him.

➡️ Witnesses immediately alerted police, who intercepted the vehicle at Ronda de Toledo, arrested two suspects while a third escaped.

➡️ Officers later found firearms and restraints, and believe the group planned to take the victim to Petrer (Alicante) to torture him for his crypto wallet keys and steal both his digital assets and a €100,000 watch.

✅ @balkanspectator — the leading Balkan news channel in English

—🇮🇹/🇷🇴 IDV seals third batch of 860 trucks for Romanian army

➡️ Italian firm IDV has signed for 860 additional high-mobility tactical trucks to Romania's armed forces, the third tranche under a 2019 deal totaling over 2,900 vehicles across 4x4, 6x6 and 8x8 configs.

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—🇷🇸🤝🇮🇱 WATCH: Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik said Israel is engaged in a “justified struggle for its existence” and warned of a “great danger” that Iran’s “militant regime” could develop a nuclear bomb and use it against Israel.

✅ @balkanspectator — the leading Balkan news channel in English

—❗️🇷🇸 URGENT: Telekom Serbia allegedly suffered a data breach exposing 160,000 customer records, including names, addresses, dates of birth, and ID numbers leaked from an internal scheduling portal.

🔗 Dark Web Intelligence

✅ @balkanspectator — the leading Balkan news channel in English

—🪖🇮🇱🤝🇬🇷 Israel's Channel 14: Israel advances major deal with Greece worth tens of millions of euros for four Israeli defense systems, most focused on air defense.

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—🇪🇺/🇲🇪 European Commissioner for Enlargement:

Montenegro is the most advanced candidate country on the road to the EU.

Today we closed another negotiation chapter, bringing the total to 14.

But much work still lies ahead. Now is the moment to keep up the pace of reforms, with a strong focus on the rule of law.

🔗 Marta Kos

✅ @balkanspectator — the leading Balkan news channel in English

—🇪🇸🤝🇦🇱 NEW: Spanish FM José Manuel Albares reaffirmed Madrid’s “firm support” for Albania’s EU accession during a meeting in Madrid with his Albanian counterpart Ferit Hoxha.

➡️ The talks also focused on boosting trade and investment, particularly in renewables and infrastructure.

✅ @balkanspectator — the leading Balkan news channel in English

—🪖🇷🇸/🇽🇰 WATCH: Serbia has deployed paratroopers and helicopters in military drills over the Albanian-majority Presheva Valley near the border with Kosovo.

➡️ Albanian National Council Chairman Ragmi Mustafa called the exercises a dangerous intimidation aimed at pressuring Albanians to leave the area.

✅ @balkanspectator — the leading Balkan news channel in English

—🇪🇺❌🇷🇸 NEW: The European Union is considering sanctions against Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić over Belgrade’s lack of progress on key EU-related reforms, including rule of law, media freedom, or democratic standards.

➡️ Some MEPs warn of measures that could hit Serbia’s political and economic interests and signal that Brussels’ patience is running out.

✅ @balkanspectator — the leading Balkan news channel in English

—❗️🇲🇩/🇪🇺/🇲🇩 NEW: Moldova has presented in Brussels a draft concept on the gradual reintegration of the Transnistrian region.

➡️ Chisinau stresses the document is a non-binding discussion paper for EU partners rather than an official settlement blueprint.

✅ @balkanspectator — the leading Balkan news channel in English