NATO chief vows 'unwavering' support for Bosnia's integrity after Serb separatist actions

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) — NATO's secretary general on Monday pledged the military alliance's “unwavering” support for Bosnia's territorial integrity after a series of Bosnian Serb separatist moves raised tensions nearly 30 years after the end of a bloody war.

Mark Rutte spoke in Sarajevo after meeting the three members of the Balkan country's multi-ethnic presidency, an institution established in a peace accord that ended the 1992-95 conflict among the Bosniaks, Serbs and Croats after more than 100,000 people died.

“Three decades after the Dayton Peace Agreement, I can tell you: NATO remains firmly committed to the stability of this region and to the security of Bosnia and Herzegovina,” Rutte said. “We will not allow hard-won peace to be jeopardized.”

Rutte called any actions that undermine the accord, the constitutional order or national institutions "unacceptable,” and added: “Inflammatory rhetoric and actions are dangerous. They pose a direct threat to Bosnia and Herzegovina’s stability and security.”

His comments came days after Bosnian Serb lawmakers passed laws that barred Bosnia's central judicial authorities and its police from operating on the territory of Republika Srpska, a Serb-run entity in Bosnia that encompasses about half the country. The other entity is a federation run by Bosniaks, who are mainly Muslims, and Croats.

The Bosnian Serb move was in response to the sentencing last month of the entity's pro-Russia President Milorad Dodik, a longtime advocate of Bosnia's disintegration. He was convicted of disobeying the top international envoy overseeing peace in the country.

Dodik, a supporter of U.S. President Donald Trump who has faced U.S. and British sanctions for his separatist actions, has rejected the sentence — a year in prison and a six-year ban from state office — calling it anti-Serb. The U.S. and key European nations have condemned Dodik’s actions, while Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed “solidarity.”

The situation has sparked fears of incidents between Bosnian and Serb-dominated police similar to ones at the start of the war. The war in Bosnia began when the country’s Serbs rebelled against independence from the former Yugoslavia and moved to form a mini-state with the aim of uniting it with Serbia.

"I have concerns about the security situation.” Rutte said, adding: "Let’s be clear, this is not 1992 and we will not allow a security vacuum to emerge.”

A European peacekeeping force in Bosnia, EUFOR, has said it was stepping up the number of its troops in response to the tensions.

The Serb member of Bosnia's presidency, Zeljka Cvijanovic, said after the meeting with Rutte that it was wrong to “put the blame on one side only." Denis Becirovic, the Bosniak presidency member, described the Serb moves as a “brutal attack on the constitutional order.”

“Destabilization of this part of Europe would only benefit Moscow,” Becirovic said.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte speaks during lecture at the Faculty of Political Sciences in Sarajevo, Bosnia, Monday, March 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut)

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, right, arrives with Sead Turcalo, dean of the Faculty of Political Sciences, to give a lecture to students in Sarajevo, Bosnia, Monday, March 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut)

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte waves to the members of the media prior to the start of his meeting with the members of the Bosnian Presidency in Sarajevo, Bosnia, Monday, March 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut)

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte waves to the members of the media prior to the start of his meeting with the members of the Bosnian Presidency in Sarajevo, Bosnia, Monday, March 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut)

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, left, shakes hands with the member of the Bosnian Presidency Zeljka Cvijanovic prior to the start of their meeting in Sarajevo, Bosnia, Monday, March 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut)

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte walks out of a meeting with the members of the Bosnian Presidency prior to the start of their press conference in Sarajevo, Bosnia, Monday, March 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut)

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, left, shakes hands with the member of the Bosnian Presidency Zeljko Komsic, right, prior to the start of their meeting in Sarajevo, Bosnia, Monday, March 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut)

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, third left, talks with the members of the Bosnian Presidency at the start of their meeting in Sarajevo, Bosnia, Monday, March 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut)

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte speaks to the media during a joint news conference with the members of the Bosnian Presidency in Sarajevo, Bosnia, Monday, March 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut)

Members of the Bosnian Presidency Zeljka Cvijanovic, left, Zeljko Komsic, center, and Denis Becirovic walk to the photo op with the NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, prior to the start of their meeting in Sarajevo, Bosnia, Monday, March 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut)

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte walks out of a meeting with the members of the Bosnian Presidency prior to the start of their press conference in Sarajevo, Bosnia, Monday, March 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut)

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte speaks to the media during a joint news conference with the members of the Bosnian Presidency in Sarajevo, Bosnia, Monday, March 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut)

SAN FRANCISCO & JACKSONVILLE, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan 12, 2026--

Abridge, the leading enterprise-grade AI for clinical conversations, is collaborating with Availity, the nation’s largest real-time health information network, to launch a first-of-its kind prior authorization experience. The engagement uses cutting-edge technology grounded in the clinician-patient conversation to facilitate a more efficient process between clinicians and health plans in medical necessity review.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260112960386/en/

Rather than creating parallel AI systems across healthcare stakeholders, Abridge and Availity are working together to ensure shared clinical context at the point of conversation powers administrative processes, such as prior authorization review and submission, improving outcomes for patients and the teams delivering care.

This collaboration unites two trusted and scaled organizations: combining Abridge’s enterprise-grade AI platform, serving over 200 health systems and projected to support over 80 million patient-clinician conversations in 2026, with Availity’s next-generation, FHIR-native Intelligent Utilization Management solution, which helps payers and providers digitize and operationalize coverage requirements within administrative workflows.

Availity’s FHIR-native APIs enable fast, scalable, and secure connectivity of payer information across the entire healthcare ecosystem. With Abridge’s Contextual Reasoning Engine technology, clinicians can gain visibility into relevant clinical information during the conversation to support documentation aligned with prior authorization requirements.

“At Availity, we’ve invested in building AI-powered, FHIR-native APIs designed to bring clinical policy logic directly into provider workflows,” said Russ Thomas, CEO of Availity. “By embedding our technology at the point of conversation, we’re enabling faster, more transparent utilization management decisions rooted in clinical context. We’re excited to collaborate with Abridge and to demonstrate what’s possible when payer intelligence meets real-time provider workflows.”

The development of real-time prior authorization is just a component of a broader revenue cycle collaboration that is focused on applying real-time conversational intelligence across the patient, provider, and payer experiences. The companies intend to support integration by collaborating on workflow alignment between their respective platforms in the following areas:

“Abridge and Availity are each bringing national scale, deep trust, and a track record of solving important challenges across the care and claims experience to this partnership,” said Dr. Shiv Rao, CEO and Co-Founder of Abridge. “We’re building real-time bridges between patients, providers, and payers, unlocking shared understanding, focused at the point of conversation.”

About Availity

Availity empowers payers and providers to deliver transformative patient experiences by enabling the seamless exchange of clinical, administrative, and financial information. As the nation's largest real-time health information network, Availity develops intelligent, automated, and interoperable solutions that foster collaboration and shared value across the healthcare ecosystem. With connections to over 95% of payers, more than 3 million providers, and over 2,000 trading partners, Availity provides mission-critical connectivity to drive the future of healthcare innovation. For more information, including an online demonstration, please visit www.availity.com or call 1.800.AVAILITY (282.4548). Follow us on LinkedIn.

About Abridge

Abridge was founded in 2018 to power deeper understanding in healthcare. Abridge is now trusted by more than 200 of the largest and most complex health systems in the U.S. The enterprise-grade AI platform transforms medical conversations into clinically useful and billable documentation at the point of care, reducing administrative burden and clinician burnout while improving patient experience. With deep EHR integration, support for 28+ languages, and 50+ specialties, Abridge is used across a wide range of care settings, including outpatient, emergency department, and inpatient.

Abridge’s enterprise-grade AI platform is purpose-built for healthcare. Supported by Linked Evidence, Abridge is the only solution that maps AI-generated summaries to source data, helping clinicians quickly trust and verify the output. As a pioneer in generative AI for healthcare, Abridge is setting the industry standard for the responsible deployment of AI across health systems.

Abridge was awarded Best in KLAS 2025 for Ambient AI in addition to other accolades, including Forbes 2025 AI 50 List, TIME Best Inventions of 2024, and Fortune’s 2024 AI 50 Innovators.

Abridge and Availity Collaborate to Redefine Payer-Provider Synergy at the Point of Conversation

Abridge and Availity Collaborate to Redefine Payer-Provider Synergy at the Point of Conversation