The spokesperson of the American State Department, Ned Price, stated in a press conference that one of the main goals is to root out corruption from the Western Balkans. And one of the tools to achieve this, according to Department of State, are sanctions.

“So one of our goals when it comes to the Western Balkans is working with governments and working with people of the region to target and to take out and to root out corruption. And sanctions are one important tool to do that. We did announce and Treasury did announce sanctions this morning on a state prosecutor general who had engaged in acts of corruption. We provided information in that statement. Treasury may have additional information regarding the basis for that designation. And sanctions will remain an important tool – one important tool, not the only important tool, but one important tool – when it comes to the region and it comes to our goal, the goal that we share with governments and people in the region of rooting out corruption,”Price said.

Price also spoke about foreign influences in the Western Balkans, saying it is a “dynamic region” that is attractive to the world, including to China and Russia.

“We believe that our cared interests and our core values form the predicate for a relationship that, in many ways, is unique and distinct from the visions of a relationship that Russia or the PRC would have for the region. So, whether it is development, whether it is security, whether it is economics, whether it is humanitarian assistance, we have made very clear our desire to be a partner to the countries of the Western Balkans and have both implicitly, and in some cases explicitly also been very clear about how the partnership that we bring is distinct from the relationship that countries like the two you mentioned would seek to have in the region,” he said.