US Assistant Secretary for Europe backs FYROM referendum

A US State Department official offered "heartfelt and profound" support to the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) Thursday ahead of a key referendum on changing its name that could clear the way for the former Yugoslav republic's NATO accession.

Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Wess Mitchell — the latest in a line of Western officials visiting Skopje to back the process — said the final decision in the Sept. 30 referendum lies with the citizens of FYROM.

"But America also has a stake in the western Balkans, of seeing stability and prosperity in a very import region," Mitchell added after talks with FYROM's Foreign Minister Nikola Dimitrov in Skopje.

Western governments are particularly keen to get the tiny landlocked country into NATO, as that would expand the alliances presence in the Balkans and diminish Russian...