This is CBSI in the World I'm John Batcher with Ivana Strudner of the Foundation for

the Defense of Democracies, writing at the London Telegraph in these last days about

the Western Balkans, Kosovo, a sovereign state since the first decade of this century.

Serbia, the aggressor state in an incident along the border, deployment of soldiers and Vladimir

Putin.

Ivana, the Russian ambassador joins with the president of Serbia saying this is not a terrorist

activity. And yet, the prime minister of Kosovo says this is terrorism. You identify this

as hybrid warfare. So I've asked the first question, how does Vuchish gain from this? How does Putin

gain from this? What does it do for them? Given the tangle that's going on in Ukraine.

So you're absolutely right that we need to talk about incentives. How would Vuchish and

how would Putin benefit from this? So first of all, you know, what does it mean for Putin? So

he really does not need to send military to the Balkans, basically he's just using, you know,

hybrid warfare to push the Balkans to the brink. And three established Russia is the only

reliable conflict negotiator in the region. And it has basically two goals. Like on one side,

it strengthens most regional standing. And it gives Putin leverage over Western powers if they

want to keep conflict in the region from escalating. So it's a very clear, you know, strategy that

Putin has and also to destruct to destruct the West from Ukraine. But then also the Serbian

president, Vuchish also benefits from destabilizing the region because he has been escalating

and then the escalating Kosovo and then positioning himself as the pillar of stability and using

it as a bargaining chip with the West. And his ultimate goal is really to remain in power.

And the Kosovo crisis really helps him divert attention from his own domestic political issues

and to boost support for the upcoming elections. And you know, when people tell me oftentimes,

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