Austria

BASEL - The search for a solution to the crisis in Ukraine will be a priority during the forthcoming Serbia's OSCE chairmanship, Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic said on Friday during the closing statement at the session of the OSCE Ministerial Council in Basel.

Romania had the largest economic growth in the European Union in the third quarter of this year as compared to the prior three months, according to the second estimation published by the European Statistics Office (Eurostat) on Friday.

BELGRADE - The energy agreement between Serbia and Russia was a good one, and certain government officials should not be deceiving the public over that, Social Democratic Party leader Boris Tadic said on Thursday, adding that a revision of the deal should be sought in the wake of the abandonment of the South Stream project.

Former president: Serbia should be compensated

BELGRADE -- The energy agreement between Serbia and Russia was good and government representatives "should not mislead the public on that issue," said Boris Tadic.

MOSCOW - Russia is prepared to continue discussions with Serbia, Austria and Hungary on ways out of the situation in the wake of the abandonment of the South Stream project, Vladimir Chizhov, Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the EU, told the Rossiya 24 TV channel.

Russia to continue talks with Austria, Hungary, Serbia

MOSCOW -- Russia is ready to continue talks with Austria, Hungary and Serbia, Russia's Ambassador to the EU Vladimir Chizhov said on Wednesday.

"Ways out of the situation that developed as a result of the closure of the South Stream project" would be discussed, he said, TASS reported.

Bulgaria will not allow to be used as a coin in relations between Russia and the West, the country's Prime Minister Boyko Borisov said in Brussels on Wednesday evening.

Prior to meeting the EU's top officials on Thursday, Borisov discussed the demise of South Stream with Elmar Brok, who chairs the European Parliament Committee on Foreign Affairs.

Bulgaria lacks coherence if one judges by its attitude to various energy projects, Russia's permanent envoy to the EU, Vladimir Chizhov, has claimed.

Chizhov said Moscow was ready to continue South Stream talks with Austria, Hungary and Serbia, but due to the complicated political situation in Bulgaria the country is not considered "reliable".

Alois Brunner, one of the world’s most wanted Nazi war criminals responsible for sending tens of thousands of Jews including 44,000 Greeks to death camps, died four years ago in Syria, it has emerged.

The suspects were detained on Friday in a police operation codenamed Palmira which was aimed at alleged terrorists and recruiters of fighters in foreign conflicts such as Syria. 

Around 900 police and other officials were involved in the operation which was described by the Austrian authorities as the biggest "in the history of Austrian state security".