The United States support Greece in its decision to expel Russian diplomats who involved in actions against the Macedonia Agreement with FYROM. US State Department spokesperson, Heather Nauert, communicated the position of Washington in a tweet:
#Greece expelled two Russian officials and barred entry of two others for attempting to interfere in Greek politics. We support Greece defending its sovereignty. #Russia must end its destabilizing behavior.
— Heather Nauert (@statedeptspox) July 12, 2018
In a more thorough statement to Greece news website hellasjournal, the state department spoke of “malicious Russian influence” in the region.
“The United States has expressed its concerns in the past about malicious Russian influence in this region.
The United States has taken similar steps in the past, like in other countries, to send a message about destabilizing, unacceptable Russian behavior and we note with particular concern the possible Russian efforts to undermine the important name agreement between Athens and Skopje.
Interference with the democratic processes of other countries is unacceptable and we support Greece in defending its sovereignty,” the state department said.
Odd enough, on the same day, July 12, French news agency AFP run a story about a little town in FYROM, Veles, became the epicenter of “fake news” in support of Donald Trump during his presidential campaign in 2016.
the story speaks of “local investors” who pour money into this business, but nothing is known about who are these investors and what are the motives.
Hundreds of websites and Facebook pages started to come out of servers in Veles town with the sole aim of tarnishing Trump’s Democrat opponents like Hillary Clinton or his predecessor Barack Obama.
Veles as the town of “fake news mills” in tech jargon “troll farms” is not new. Several local tech experts had admitted that already last year, when the fake news machine in favor of Trump flew out and Facebook became the target of investigation. Hillary Clinton suggested Rusia was behind this.
In October 2017, a Russian online magazine lifted the veil on what may be the biggest troll factory in Russia – a St. Petersburg-based operation in which 80 to 90 employees devoted their time solely to posing as Americans and trying to lure U.S. citizens to interact with them. CNN reported it has been bankrolled with millions of dollars from Russian oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin, a longtime crony of Russia President Vladimir Putin.
Russia has vehemently opposed the accession of FYROM to NATO for which an agreement with Greece was a precondition. In fact Moscow opposes any expansion of NATO, particularly if it involves nations Russia sees as within its natural sphere of influence.
Athens has revealed very few details about the alleged “Russian plot” against the Macedonia Agreement, however, it must have solid evidence to have expelled the Russina diplomats as such an action is a very serious issue.
A Greek official said on Thursday that the diplomats are accused of supplying funds to protest groups opposing a deal.
Protests against the agreement have been held in both countries and are supported by nationalists, in Greece also by the main opposition party and the far-right of Golden Dawn.
Despite the agreement, protests continue in several cities in North Greece almost at daily basis.
The big rallies in winter were organized and funded by so-called pan-Macedonian organizations of diaspora Greeks in US.
Ps maybe the anti-Macedonia protests have a lot of different funders…
“Athens …. must have solid evidence to have expelled the Russina diplomats as such an action is a very serious issue.”
Really? Not just obeying orders as a vassal state?