The United States of America hope that the European Union will open accession talks with North Macedonia and Albania next month and that the European path of those countries will be seen as a necessity, US special envoy for the Western Balkans, Matthew Palmer, told Radio Free Europe. He also expressed concern over Russia's intentions towards the region.

Palmer recalled that the European Council will have on agenda the accession talks with these two countries in March already, adding that the US hopes the answer will be ‘yes’.

“We believe that both countries are, on the merits, qualified. We believe that would be an important signal sent to the region. It is necessary for North Macedonia and Albania to have a clear European path and European perspective,” Palmer was quoted as saying.

The US official also expressed concern over Russia's presence in the Western Balkans and what he called “an attempt to undermine the international support” for the deal that North Macedonia and Greece reached and which ended the 20-year long name dispute between these two countries.

“We are worried about the Russian intentions concerning the Western Balkans,” he added.

According to him, Russia prefers the Western Balkans which is a fragile region and possesses the elements of chaos. He also warned this is the region where the Russians could increase the tensions in order to use that situation and create rifts between the Western Balkans and the international community.