BIRN

As Balkan teams descend on Paris for the 2024 summer Olympics, their countries are pinning their highest hopes of success on those sports in which they have traditionally excelled.

As Ukraine pushes Moldova to return men of fighting age fleeing conscription, Chisinau has responded that it has to respect European norms concerning the rights of people fleeing war.

The politically ambitious oligarch is based in Moscow – from where he coordinates actions against the Moldova’s pro-European leadership, using all the weapons he can find to destabilise it.

As Moldova’s membership talks with the EU move into a higher gear, a looming question is whether to include the Russian-backed separatist Transnistria region in the process – or join the EU without it.

After a local council said it intended to give pensioners extra payments using a sanctioned Russian bank, Moldova's National Bank said it was working with anti-money laundering institutions to tackle illegal financial flows from Moscow.