I think Russia sees the Balkans as one more area to destabilize European unity, which is a project that has gone surprisingly well for it—I don't think it expected the levels of success it's had either in the Balkans or elsewhere in Europe—and it's going to keep pushing.
I think it's interesting, in terms of Russian policy going forward, that Russia's success is based on a disruptive strategy. It doesn't actually have a positive agenda that it's putting forward as an alternative. Its agenda is that it is unhappy with the post-Cold War order. It wants to poke and prod at it, find its weaknesses, look for ways to destroy it—the Balkans are one way to do that, and interference in elections is another way to do it—and try to pull all of these things together.
But I don't think it expected this to work, so if it works, what is it offering as an alternative? One argument is that it's offering us all the 19th century back, but I'm not sure even it wants the 19th century back really. I think it has enjoyed being able to put itself up as a counterweight to the United States. If the United States is gone, if it's not a real actor on the scene, or if it's not an effective one, I wonder if Russia will be forced to develop more of a constructive agenda.
We aren't seeing this in the Balkans yet, but that might be one area to watch to see if it can actually offer something. It does have a lot of public support there. It's not entirely clear what that comes from other than a certain historical affinity.