The city of Kucova, once named after Joseph Stalin, remains home to an airbase where old Soviet and Chinese fighter jets given to Albania by its fellow Communist powers rust in their hangars and the open air. Yet with the West intent on bolstering its military presence in the Balkans as a counter to Russia's influence, the old Communist base is to rise from the ashes - as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's foremost airbase in the region.

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