• While the competent security institutions and the Prosecutor’s Office are conducting official proceedings into an alleged security breach in the Office of the President of North Macedonia, the country’s political leadership has responded with harsh attempts to discredit what it calls “structures from the past.”
• New materials circulating within the security sector raise suspicions of an organized network of party-institutional cover-up involving senior officials from the current government.

By Xhabir Deralla

Skopje, May 21, 2026 – The public in North Macedonia is facing one of the most serious security scandals in the country’s recent history. The Ministry of Interior and the Basic Public Prosecutor’s Office for Prosecuting Organized Crime and Corruption have already officially confirmed that proceedings are underway in a case involving unauthorized access to, and extraction of, data from the IT systems of the Office of President Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova.

At the center of the investigation is an IT administrator engaged by the President’s Office. There are reasonable grounds to suspect that he unlawfully copied and encrypted confidential state data with the intention of subsequently handing it over to a foreign intelligence structure of the Russian Federation. Given that North Macedonia is a full NATO member state, the case has caused serious alarm within security circles due to the risk of compromising classified allied information.

Based on claims from unofficial sources and materials submitted by security services and obtained by our newsroom, the chronology of the case unfolds in several key stages:

Digital intrusion

The suspected IT employee in the President’s Office, Dragan Lakovski, allegedly used his official position on several occasions to gain unauthorized access to protected electronic data, copy it, and store it on external media. According to the complaint, operational findings indicate that the final destination of the data was Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service, the SVR.

Report and alleged attempt at sabotage

Lakovski’s activities were reportedly detected by another IT employee within the institution, after which the Ministry of Interior’s Cybercrime Department was immediately notified.

According to claims from unofficial sources, there are suspicions that an attempt was made to cover up the case and destroy or compromise electronic forensic evidence.

Alleged political pressure on the Prosecutor’s Office and the President

After the case entered institutional procedure, strong political pressure was allegedly exerted through telephone contacts.

The demand, according to the materials, was for the case to be closed without ordering detention measures and without conducting a full, independent digital investigation.

The materials obtained by CIVIL also state that direct threats of impeachment were allegedly made against President Siljanovska-Davkova.

Mickoski counterattacks: “rodents” and “spy scum”

Despite the fact that the Ministry of Interior confirmed that official interviews had already been conducted with employees in the President’s Office, and that the Prosecutor’s Office had opened a case, Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski yesterday launched a harsh political discrediting of the entire affair.

Instead of offering answers regarding the alleged involvement of his close associates in the Government and the President’s Office, he shifted the blame to “structures from the past” and directed grave insults at the people who reported the case, calling them “rodents” and “spy scum.” He also pointed the finger at the head of the Basic Public Prosecutor’s Office for Prosecuting Organized Crime and Corruption, Islam Abazi.

“Well, look, they are the spy scum of society, structures from the past, who were present in the offices like rodents of certain former politicians, presidents, prime ministers, and so on. And they present themselves as a group of employees and send anonymous letters to prosecutors’ offices. Of course, there is Islam Abazi, immediately rushing to create panic among the public that something was supposedly happening. I would not comment on these rodents, because I think we should forget them,” Prime Minister Mickoski said.

The contrast between the government’s rhetoric and the material evidence

The Prime Minister’s attempt to minimize the affair as “an anonymous letter from rodents” clashes with the content of the documents obtained by our newsroom. Sources from the security sector brief that the complainants are concerned professionals within the Ministry of Interior who fear the complete party capture of the case and its closure without a legal resolution.

The document in the possession of our newsroom clearly shows that the complaint does not target “personnel from the past,” but current, key figures in the present government who are suspected of abusing their official position to prevent digital forensics, the seizure of phones and devices, as well as checks of VPN logs and NATO communications.

As a media platform that consistently monitors hybrid threats and the rule of law, this morning we submitted official and separate freedom-of-information requests to the Office of the Prime Minister, the Intelligence Agency, and the Basic Public Prosecutor’s Office, so that the institutions can provide precise answers to the key questions related to this espionage scandal. The newsroom has also contacted relevant experts in the field of security and defense. Their responses, if received, will be published in full during the day.

Xhabir Deralla is a journalist, political and hybrid warfare analyst, and President of CIVIL – Center for Freedom.

© Xhabir Deralla / CIVIL – Center for Freedom, 2026.
Republishing permitted with prior written consent.

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