Senior NATO Officials Intensify Discussions with SAIS Students, Balkans Youth Leaders

Alarmed by mounting crisis in the Balkans, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte and Deputy Secretary-General Radmila Šekerinska held urgent meetings in the region in mid-March. A fortnight later, SAIS students and their Western Balkans colleagues were back at NATO headquarters—for the second time since December—discussing how NATO can help reverse the slide towards conflict.

SAIS Bologna MAIR student Anna Fratsyvir and SAIS Washington MASCI student Matej Sekulić, along with a dozen emerging experts from the ‘Western Balkans Six’, participated in an intensive, full day program with NATO officials and military staff on March 31.  The purpose was a deeper dive into the Recommendations to NATO prepared by the youth leaders and SAIS students last year under the ‘Seeing is Believing’ project.

The innovative project design enabled SAIS students, working under the guidance of Adjunct Professor and Project Co-Director Edward P. Joseph, to facilitate the work of young, security-focused specialists and students from the region.  Collaborating across the ethno-national divide, including between Kosovo and Serbia and within Bosnia-Herzegovina as well as their neighbors, SAIS students and their counterparts forged a bond.

Impressed by the group presentation last December, NATO invited the ‘Seeing is Believing’ participants to return in March, just as the highest levels of the Alliance zeroed in on worrying regional trends. Deputy Secretary-General Šekerinska welcomed Fratsyvir and Sekulić and their colleagues to a set of dynamic, two-way discussions on current developments, critical vulnerabilities and surprising opportunities.  Reinforcing the bond with SAIS, two alumni, Petr Lunak and Silvia Maretti of the NATO Engagement Section, hosted the high-quality, high-level program.

"It has been a truly rewarding experience to work alongside my SAIS colleagues and Western Balkans colleagues in holding these discussions,” said Sekulić.  “For example, highlighting the pressing cybersecurity threat in the region—and the lack of capacity to address it—underscored the value of the group’s recommendations on this topic to NATO.”

Fratsyvir stated: “Participating in the 'Seeing is Believing' project has been a truly unique and enriching experience as a SAIS student.  As a Ukrainian citizen, I was fascinated by NATO’s keen interest in our views and the willingness of staff to explore ways to stabilize the Balkans.  I found many parallels with Ukraine’s own path, and I am inspired to look deeper into dialogue between the Alliance and my country.  Additionally, the meeting with the EU StratCom Task Force on April 1 illuminated the serious hybrid warfare threat in the Balkans, and what the EU is doing about it.”

Fratsyvir and Sekulić, along with fellow SAIS student, Kaja Burja—who helped spearhead the ‘Seeing is Believing’ project last year—have participated in related SAIS Foreign Policy Institute events.

“Highest level NATO officials have witnessed first-hand the exceptional capacity of SAIS students,” said Professor Joseph.  “Anna and Matej have continued the impressive partnership with our outstanding WB6 Youth Leaders begun in 2024.  As they head to Budva, Montenegro for the NATO Youth Summit, our participants are mindful of the camaraderie and collaborative learning they experienced in this project.” Project Co-Director: Dr. Saso Ordanoski, Forum (Skopje)

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