Russian Federation’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sergey Lavrov, stated that Moscow isn’t against Macedonia’s new name but the legitimacy of the whole process behind it is suspicious, reports Sputnik news agency.
-We aren’t against the name that arose in the end. We are asking to what degree this process was legitimate and to what extent it was conditioned by the intent to reach a consensus between Skopje and Athens or it was caused by USA’s intent to drag as quickly as possible all of the Balkan countries into NATO and to prevent any Russian influence in this area – said Lavrov.
According to Lavrov, these issues are instigated when the Parliament of the Republic of Macedonia has adopted the changes in the Constitution and has passed the Law on languages that the president of the state has refused to sign.
-And when they accuse us of all the maladies that can occur in the Balkans, we are asking about our Western colleagues’ behaviour towards the incredible campaign led by the West regarding the referendum in Macedonia, when heads of EU governments, NATO’s General Secretary, the leadership of the European Commission and the whole of the European Union, who have personally lobbied in Skopje for a vote in favor of the EU membership by changing the name of Macedonia. There was enormous propaganda. It wasn’t about the name that would calm the relations between Macedonia and Greece but a vote for membership into the Euro-Atlantic structures through the name change. The cunning of such approach is obvious – said Lavrov.
