The attempt to present Russia as involved in the attempts to liquidate Zoran Zaev is unfounded and damages the relations between the two countries, was the reaction from the Russian Embassy in Macedonia regarding the part of the interview with Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev broadcast on Montenegrin radio on Sunday, “Antena-M”.
Zaev’s statements in the interview on a Montenegrin radio were also part of the regular weekly briefing by Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova , who said that “such statements not only represent unfounded insinuations and manic fabrications, but essentially resembles attempts to portray oneself as a victim. ”.
The statement from the Russian embassy in Skopje was a shade lighter and more diplomatic.
“With astonishment and concern, we emphasize that in this interview, in the context of last year’s events in Montenegro, the head of the Macedonian government, referring to some “reporters” and “analysts”, deliberately or not, presented the situation in a way that the Russian Federation was allegedly involved in attempts to “liquidate” and prepared such actions against Mr. Zoran Zaev himself. We categorically declare that such claims are unfounded and we consider them as inadmissible. With regret, we conclude that the same people are undermining the atmosphere of trust between our two countries and damaging the many years of mutual beneficial cooperation and contradicting Skopje’s declared readiness to build constructive cooperation with Russia, a desire for the development of friendly relations between our two countries”, reads the statement from the Embassy of the Russian Federation in Macedonia.
Unlike the embassy, Zakharova was more direct and used much more strong expressions.
“We believe that such statements not only represent unfounded insinuations and manic fabrications, but essentially resembles attempts to portray oneself as a victim. The essence of these statements are to cause damage to Russian-Macedonian relations and are contrary to Skopje’s declared readiness to build constructive cooperation with our country. The horror expressed in this way only serve as justification for the accelerated deployment of the Balkan countries to the North Atlantic Alliance, even though they still remain outside NATO structures. Because of this, the recent political crisis in Macedonia was also provoked to a large extent. Russia has never interfered in Macedonia’s internal affairs”, said Zakharova.
