Stanko Subotic, a businessman twice indicted for cigarette smuggling and known for his links to an alleged drug lord, is set to make millions from the expansion of Belgrade’s airport. Serbia’s deal to expand Belgrade’s Nikola Tesla airport may soon become a windfall for a twice-indicted businessman with ties to organized crime. Stanko Subotic, who before the 2008 financial crisis was among the 100 richest people in Central and Eastern…
by Aubrey Belford, Saska Cvetkovska, Biljana Sekulovska and Stevan Dojčinović Russian spies and diplomats have been involved in a nearly decade-long effort to spread propaganda and provoke discord in Macedonia as part of a region-wide endeavor to stop Balkan countries from joining NATO. This conclusion comes from a tranche of intelligence documents obtained by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) and partners NOVA TV and the Crime and Corruption Reporting Network (KRIK). The…
Until late last year, a mention of Macedonia in the halls of power in Washington, DC, would most likely elicit only shrugs. But things have changed. In recent months, America’s right has become fervently interested in what one writer termed a “battle royale” within the tiny Balkan country. On one side is Macedonia’s conservative former ruling party, portrayed by its newfound U.S. supporters as a staunch defender of free markets and traditional…
Maja Jovanovska, Tamas Bodoky, and Aubrey Belford Hungarians with links to the country’s pro-government media have embarked on a mass buy-up of Macedonian news outlets, part of a concerted push into the Balkans by media companies loyal to Viktor Orban. Company registration documents obtained by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) and partners show that, since last spring, two former senior executives of Hungarian public television network Magyar…