Today, Kosovo was accepted as an associate member of NATO. Such a decision was made by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Alliance and advanced the status from observer to associate member.

At the vote, 14 NATO members abstained, and only Hungary was against. In addition to Kosovo, Malta also became an associate member. We asked political scientist Milan Stefanovski, one of the best experts on issues related to defense, what this means for Macedonia and the region.

Toj is convinced that Kosovo’s accession to NATO institutions is in the context of geopolitical positioning of the USA and NATO in the Balkans as an inevitable point of Russian interest.

According to him, the southern flank of NATO is facing a serious challenge in light of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, or rather the conflict between the West and Russia.