# Understanding the Balkans Security Cooperation Act

This bill asks the U.S. Department of Defense and State Department to investigate and report on military relationships between countries in the Western Balkans region and three major powers: Russia, China, and the United States. The Western Balkans refers to eight countries in southeastern Europe: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, and Slovenia. Congress wants to understand what's happening in this strategically important region and whether these countries are getting too close to U.S. rivals.

The report needs to dig into specific details about military cooperation with Russia and China since 2012. This includes cataloging any weapons, military equipment, or technology worth over a million dollars that these countries have received, documenting military training exercises and joint operations, listing formal security agreements, and assessing intelligence sharing arrangements. The report also needs to evaluate how these relationships with Russia and China might affect American interests, NATO's security, and the security of NATO members bordering the region. Additionally, the government must investigate a Russian military facility in Serbia called the Russian Humanitarian Center in Niš to determine if it's coordinating with Russian intelligence agencies.

The bill also requires the State Department to assess whether any Balkan country has made major military purchases from Russia in violation of existing U.S. sanctions laws. The government has six months to complete this report, which will be made public in unclassified form, though sensitive information can be included in a classified section available only to Congress. Essentially, Congress is concerned about Russian and Chinese military influence in Europe's backyard and wants a comprehensive picture of what's happening before deciding what action, if any, to take.

Balkans Security Cooperation Act

Balkans Security Cooperation Act This bill requires the Department of Defense, with the concurrence of the Department of State, to report on security cooperation between Western Balkan countries and the United States, Russia, China, and NATO. For the purposes of this bill, the Western Balkan countries are Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, and Slovenia. The report must include (1) an assessment of how Western Balkan security cooperation with Russia and China affect the security interests of the United States and NATO; (2) an assessment of the Russian Humanitarian Center in Nis, Serbia, and any influence or coordination it may have with Russian intelligence agencies; and (3) a determination by the State Department on whether any Western Balkan country has conducted a significant transaction with a person that is part of Russia's defense or intelligence sectors.