Found a good website posted by the Russian International Affairs Council(RIAC) on a .ru website. Needless to say it is an extremely biased view of the interactions and feelings between Russia and Albania. However it is good at pointing out the issues that Russia finds important in its developing relationship with Albania and some of the issues it has with NATO and the EU.
The key points that the RIAC highlights are...
1.) The limiting effect that its membership in the EU has on the ability for businesses within the country to prosper. They claim this has created a "dire need for new potential partners"; with Russia being the obvious best choice.
2.) The large majority of infrastructure in the industrial and power sector within Albania were built by Soviet engineers.
3.) The influence that China had and still has after filling the void left by the break in Albanian-Russian relations in the 1970s.
4. ) The resource potential provided by Albania's mineral deposits and water resources.
I personally think that Russia would hope to eventually establish a naval base in Albania as this would allow the Russians to move their Black Sea fleet to the Western side of the Bosphorus and Dardanelles Straits to prevent naval forces of the NATO alliance from blocking them in in case of conflict. Furthermore a Russian presence or influence in Albania would place them in a well suited position to put pressure on forces in Kosovo and Greece.
As Albania it is important to keep in mind the sort of influence that Russia seeks over our country. We must develop a strong relationship with NATO; through NATO as well as the EU.
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