\n<\/p>\n
Keir Starmer\u2019s raid on overseas aid has led to a 40% cut in funds for countering Russian aggression and misinformation in a region of Europe described by the prime minister as vital to the UK\u2019s national security.<\/p>\n
British funding committed to bolstering the western Balkans, where Russia has been accused of sowing division and creating destabilisation, has been cut from \u00a340m last year to \u00a324m for 2025-26.<\/p>\n
The Integrated Security Fund (ISF) is designed to tackle the highest priority threats to the UK\u2019s national security at home and overseas.<\/p>\n
Starmer recently described the western Balkans region, encompassing Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia, as \u201cEurope\u2019s crucible \u2013 the place where the security of our continent is put to the test\u201d.<\/p>\n
Last year\u2019s ISF funds were used in part to counter and respond to malicious cyber-attacks in the region and to bolster democratic institutions and independent media.<\/p>\n
The cut in UK government funding appears to be a consequence of Starmer\u2019s policy to reduce Official Development Assistance (ODA) for low- and middle-income countries.<\/p>\n
The amount of ODA committed to the western Balkans under the ISF has been cut from \u00a331.91m in 2024-25 to \u00a317m for 2025-26. The figures from the Cabinet Office also show a cut of \u00a31.15m in \u201cnon-ODA\u201d funding for the region.<\/p>\n
The financial year of 2025-26 is the first in a gradual transition announced by the government towards reducing ODA from 0.5% to 0.3% of gross national income by 2027.<\/p>\n
Emily Thornberry, the chair of the foreign affairs select committee and a former shadow foreign secretary in Starmer\u2019s team before the general election, said: \u201cI visited the western Balkans earlier this month. It is quite clear they are on the frontline of the fight against Russian disinformation and interference, and I am very proud of the work the UK is doing to support them in that fight – for their security and all of Europe\u2019s. More work is needed to support independent media, not less. People are hungry to learn the truth and it\u2019s very difficult to find it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dr Kate Ferguson, the co-executive director and head of policy and research at Protection Approaches, an NGO that works in the western Balkans on preventing identity-based violence, said the UK had a good record in the region and it should not be undermined now.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe national security strategy rightly recognises that we are in a period of intensifying strategic competition for the rules and governance of our world; in Europe we see this as Russia diversifies its efforts to undermine our democratic consensus,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is essential then that our Foreign Office is properly and appropriately resourced to meet these growing threats to democracy and our collective safety.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn recent years, the UK has distinguished itself in the western Balkans as a trusted and principled leader when others have sometimes faltered. Now, as new forms of Russian aggression and malign influence deepen in the region, this leadership must be bolstered \u2013 and not watered down.\u2019<\/p>\n
This week, the new head of MI6, Blaise Metreweli, said Britain was caught in \u201ca space between peace and war\u201d and described Russia as \u201caggressive, expansionist and revisionist, seeking to subjugate Ukraine and harass Nato\u201d.<\/p>\n
Shelagh Daley, the policy team lead at Saferworld, an NGO that runs programmes in the western Balkans, said the cuts appeared to be part of a move by the UK government to deprioritise conflict prevention.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis reflects what we are seeing as a wider trend in ISF and other UK foreign aid spending amid the cuts. It appears to be a deprioritisation of work on conflict prevention and peacebuilding, even as conflict has increased globally, societies have become more divided, and basic freedoms are being curtailed.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt doesn\u2019t seem coherent or strategic to be pulling away from programming that aims to address the causes of conflict and fragility at a time when the risks to global security are so high.\u201d<\/p>\n
A government spokesperson said: \u201cThe figures in the report represent only one part of the UK\u2019s total investment in the western Balkans on issues such as organised crime and hostile state activity.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe ISF is designed to adapt to the very latest national security priorities and often funds short-term projects, meaning it is natural for spending decisions to evolve over time.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Keir Starmer\u2019s raid on overseas aid has led to a 40% cut in funds for countering Russian aggression and misinformation in a region of Europe described by the prime minister as vital to the UK\u2019s national security. British funding committed to bolstering the western Balkans, where Russia has been accused of sowing division and creating<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":38369,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[1122,21028,10276,562,258,3371,328,672,1162,1036],"class_list":{"0":"post-38368","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-politics","8":"tag-aid","9":"tag-balkans","10":"tag-counter","11":"tag-cuts","12":"tag-foreign","13":"tag-funds","14":"tag-policy","15":"tag-russian","16":"tag-threat","17":"tag-western"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38368","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=38368"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38368\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/38369"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=38368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=38368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=38368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}