Rovinsky accepted the offer of Alexey Suvorin, editor of the newspaper "Novoye Vremya", and having left the post of director of the orphanage, went as a correspondent to Bosnia and Herzegovina. He arrived in Vienna on 10 June 1878 from where he reported on preparations for the occupation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Russo-Turkish War had just ended, however the future of the Balkans was still unsettled. Rovinsky responded to Austro-Hungarian preparations for the Bosnian campaign with a series of angry articles. Because of this, he was asked to leave Sarajevo six months later. In May 1879, he arrived in the Principality of Montenegro where, thanks to the help of his friend Alexander Pypin, he was promoted to freelance dragoman of the Russian diplomatic mission.