President Stevo Pendarovski in an interview for “Focus” while commenting the statement made by Russian chief diplomat Sergey Lavrov, who these days assessed that the mood of the Macedonian people is contrary to the Euro-Atlantic course of the political elite, said that these were provocative statements that according to him are part of political propaganda.
– All state institutions know that Russia is interfering in our internal affairs. The last time with intensive participation through its own people, its own political entities, its own installations. We have people coming from the neighborhood who are Russian agents, that is, people of the Russian service. I cannot publically disclose exactly where they are coming from, as this is sensitive information, but the Russians are also trying to influence through these, modernly called hybrid threats, through political propaganda, assesses Pendarovski.
He reveals that the competent bodies are aware of people who had come to create provocations at the recent citizen protests, but also about the financing of “some political entities”.
At the same time, Pendarovski does not reveal which entities this concerns, but points out that these are “several entities in direct correlation with Moscow for several years back”.
– As long as that is politically articulated in the institutions, it is all right and it is democratic. But I have to say that it is really strange that after several days of the Russian invasion on Ukraine, Levica called the Russian Ambassador to the Parliament and honored him for his contribution to the bilateral relations, which is unprecedented. This has not happened in any European parliament, states Pendarovski in the interview for “Focus”.
As to the Russian military intervention in Ukraine, the Head of State says that no one has an assessment of when that war would end, but adds that all assessments indicate that the conflict will last, which, he warns, will cause a chain reaction in the world in many areas.
Translation: N. Cvetkovska
