The U.S. Department of the Treasury imposed sanctions on seven individuals from the Western Balkans for their incitement of and contribution to destabilizing actions and behaviors. These individuals come from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, and North Macedonia. The individuals sanctioned are Aqif Rakipi, Ylli Ndroqi, Asim Sarajlic, Gordana Tadic, Svetozar Marovic, Nikola Gruevski, and Sasho Mijalkov. These sanctions are a part of broader actions taken by the U.S. Department of the Treasury in the Balkans-Related Sanctions program. Several institutions, such as the Office of Foreign Assets Control and the Code of Federal Regulations, work to implement and publicize these sanctions.

Brian Nelson, the Treasury’s Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, stated that: “The people designated today constitute a serious threat to regional stability, institutional trust, and the aspirations of those seeking democratic and judicious governance in the Western Balkans.” Nelson’s statements were made in the context of the U.S. freezing the assets of the aforementioned individuals and barring any American from engaging in financial negotiations with them. In addition, Gordana Tadic, who was stripped of her job as a chief prosecutor for Bosnia after deliberate workplace negligence to pursue personal gain, released a statement regarding the sanctions to RFE/RL’s Balkan Service, which reads:

“What kind of corruption? I don’t know where (the allegations) came from; I work honestly.” The state department also released a statement on Nikola Gruevski, the former prime minister of North Macedonia and current convict in multiple cases of corruption and money laundering. The statement reads: “He has continuously evaded capture for his 2018 conviction by a court in North Macedonia on corruption-related charges, which represents a serious setback for accountability for corruption and corruption-related activities in North Macedonia.”

The U.S. Department of the Treasury took a measured response to multiple cases of corruption within the Western Balkans. Instead of issuing broad, destructive, country-wide sanctions, these targeted sanctions impact those most responsible for destabilization. Targeted sanctions reduce the risks of general economic collapse and subsequent human harm. 

In states such as Albania, Bosnia, Herzegovina, Montenegro, and North Macedonia, organized crime is highly influential in politics, and actors utilize money laundering and violence to garner support for their candidates. Listed below is a brief description of the criminal activity in which each sanctioned individual was involved. Rakipi, a former Member of Parliament from Elbasan, Albania, has been involved in one organized crime group (OCG) and misappropriated public assets, expropriated private assets for personal gain/political purposes, and engaged in bribery. Ndroqi, a former media owner, used his outlets to control, threaten, and blackmail Albanian citizens for financial gain. Sarajilc, a former member of the parliament of Bosnia and Herzegovina, was involved in the “Asim affair,” where Sraajilc was caught engaging in vote trading.

Tadic, the former Chief Prosecutor of the State Prosecutor’s Office of BiH, failed to assign cases through an automated case distribution service to further her own personal goals. Marovic, the former president of Serbia and Montenegro common state, has been indicted in large-scale construction project corruption cases. Gruevski, the only of I.C.I.C. KFT, a Hungarian-based LLC, has evaded capture for corruption crimes in North Macedonia. Mijalkov, the former chief of counterintelligence in North Macedonia, engaged in a vote-rigging and illegal wiretapping scheme.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s penchant for targeted sanctions is well-suited for the hotbed of corruption in the Western Balkans. It would be highly unfair to the citizens of the Balkans to issue generalized sanctions, and it would be an overreaction to a couple of bad actors. Therefore the use of sanctions by the U.S. Department of the Treasury is an intelligent foray into what may become larger, more serious sanctions in the future.