pan0wski

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has convened an emergency meeting of the National Defence Council after explosives were found near a pipeline that transports Russian gas to Hungary.

The discovery in a border area of neighbouring Serbia comes as Orban's party is badly trailing in opinion polls ahead of crucial elections next Sunday.

Opposition leader Peter Magyar accused him of "panic-mongering" orchestrated by "Russian advisers", days after security experts warned of a possible "false flag" operation that could be blamed on Ukraine.

Orban, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, has resisted EU calls to abandon Russian energy imports since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Governments in five EU member states are “consistently and intentionally” eroding the rule of law, Europe’s leading civil liberties group has warned, while democratic standards are deteriorating in six more, including historically strong democracies.

Drawing on evidence from more than 40 NGOs in 22 countries, the Civil Liberties Union for Europe (Liberties) described the governments of Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Italy and Slovakia as “dismantlers” that were actively weakening the rule of law.

Seen in front of the entrance to Devín Castle.

I will also put this beautiful picture of Slovak flag flying on top of the castle:

Meanwhile, Poland's defence chief Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz said that the army would examine 120 kilometres of the Warsaw-Lublin-Hrubieszów line, which links the capital to Ukraine by rail and road.

A railway line linking Warsaw to southeastern Poland was damaged by a weekend explosion that Prime Minister Donald Tusk called an "unprecedented act of sabotage".

Tusk, who visited the site on Monday, said the line is "crucially important for delivering aid to Ukraine."

"Unfortunately, the worst fears have been confirmed," the Polish leader said in a statement Monday.

"An act of sabotage has occurred on the Warsaw-Lublin route. An explosion has destroyed the railway track."

The public prosecutor's office in Milan has opened an investigation into claims that Italian citizens travelled to Bosnia-Herzegovina on "sniper safaris" during the war in the early 1990s.

Italians and others are alleged to have paid large sums to shoot at civilians in the besieged city of Sarajevo.

Slovakia's Prime Minister Robert Fico warned that his country will oppose using Russian frozen assets to fund Ukraine's defense spending, speaking with Slovakian public broadcaster STVR on Saturday.

“Slovakia won’t take part in any legal or financial schemes to seize frozen assets if those funds would be spent on military costs in Ukraine,” Fico said, Bloomberg reported, citing the interview with STVR.

About 50 young men disrupted a Serbian cultural event in Split on Monday evening, demanding that participants and guests leave.

Witnesses said the group, masked and dressed in black, approached the Blatina District Council building and told people to exit. Police said there was no physical violence, although offensive language can be heard in recordings. Organizers and participants complied. The event featured a folklore dance performance by a group from Novi Sad and was part of Serbian Culture Week.

ZAGREB, Croatia (AP) — Croatia’s parliament on Friday voted to reintroduce compulsory military service in the European Union and NATO member country.

The move comes amid heightened tensions in Europe following the Russian aggression against Ukraine, as well as an apparent arms race and military buildup in the Balkans, which went through a bloody war in the 1990s.

Ambassador Nkosinathi Emmanuel "Nathi" Mthethwa's body was discovered outside a Paris hotel. The circumstances of his death are under investigation.

South Africa's ambassador to France, Nkosinathi Emmanuel "Nathi" Mthethwa, was found dead outside the Hyatt Regency hotel in the west of Paris on Tuesday, according to the local prosecutor's office.

Mthethwa was 58-years-old and had been serving as ambassador to France since his appointment in December 2023.

The Hungarian leader said it doesn't matter if a few Hungarian drones flew over Ukraine, since he doesn't consider Ukraine an independent, sovereign country.

Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orbán played down the possibility of Hungarian drones violating Ukraine's airspace in an interview released on Monday. Even if a drone enters Ukraine from Hungary, Orbán said, Kyiv should deal with drones coming from the east, from Russia.

Serbian police arrested two persons suspected of organising training in Serbia for Moldovan and Romanian citizens in “providing more effective physical resistance to police officers in case of riots during election day in that country [Moldova], scheduled for September 28″.

One of those arrested, L.P., is suspected of organising training in a hospitality establishment near the western Serbian town of Loznica, and another person, named S.S., allegedly helped him, the Ministry of Interior said on Friday.

The training was reportedly organised from July 16 to September 12 for 150 to 170 Moldovan and Romanian citizens.

September the 26th, 2025 – Croatia has chosen to withhold its recognition of Palestine despite powerful European countries like the UK and France having recently done so.

As Morski writes, the Croatian Parliament has voted on the recognition of the state of Palestine. 121 MPs voted, 44 were in favour, 4 abstained and 73 were against recognising it. 56 MPs sent a joint letter to Prime Minister Andrej Plenković in which they urged him to recognise the state of Palestine as soon as possible and to suspend arms exports to Israel, 24sata reports.