Why was the Director of the CIA on an Unannounced Trip to the Balkans this Week?

Keeping the Americans in, the Serbian nationalists down, and the Russians out

Earlier this week, I asked a regional security expert why CIA director William Burns was on an “unannounced” tour of the Balkans. He responded by paraphrasing Lord Ismay’s famous quote about NATO, the one that says the Euro-Atlantic alliance exists “to keep the Americans in, the Germans down, and the Russians out”. Similarly, this security expert joked that the purpose of the CIA director’s trip to the Balkans this week was “to keep the Americans in, the Serbian nationalists down, and the Russians out.” By all available accounts, Burns’ meetings with leaders in Sarajevo, Belgrade, and Pristina addressed regional security matters, which have acquired a greater urgency since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The meetings were not about the controversial lithium mine being planned for Serbia – at least not primarily – something which has rightly been receiving a lot of attention lately.