Unfortunately, I became one who were swindled by a well organized and inventive structure, which is directed at persons and countries that are aligned towards Euro-Atlantic aspirations in order to cause damage, said today Prime Minister Zoran Zaev at the press conference that occurred regarding the released video on Youtube by Russian pranksters Vladimir Kuznecov (Vovan) and Aleksej Stolarov (Lexus), that falsely introduce themselves as the former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and NATO’s Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg.
In these conversations, Zaev openly talks about current political issues, such as the issues regarding the border between Kosovo and Serbia, MOC’s autonomy, EU integrations, and he gives away the phone number of the former US Assistant Secretary.
“It’s a well-organized structure for spreading influence over third parties, and as by rule, the manipulations come from Anti-NATO propagandas and disinformation. These attacks are directed towards countries members of the EU or countries candidates. The conversations contain our official stances as I believed this meeting exists and I spoke as a Prime Minister, said Zaev.
He also said that this political discredit is not a unique case, as the French President Emanuel Macron, the former British Minister of Foreign Affairs, Boris Johnson, the Turkish President Redzep Tap Erdogan, the former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, NATO’s Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg, and musician Elton John were also swindled.
“This shows that I’m in a good company. I’m a victim of my openness. I am constantly available for the citizens, the leaders of the European states. It is necessary to reassess the protocol for the security of the communications which is always under the attack by these inventive groups. Parallel to the reformatory processes it is necessary to come up with an urgent plan against spreading disinformation” said Zaev.
He also said that he doesn’t feel any responsibility in order to resign since he didn’t reveal any secrets but he repeated his opinions. According to him, this has happened in other states where their security system is much bigger.
“In those moments I personally believed that I was talking to Stoltenberg and Poroshenko and I spoke as a Prime Minister. I repeated the opinions and stances that I have always addressed clearly. Each day you are in the machine with talks, and that is why ommissions happen for which I sincerely apologize” said Zaev.
