FYROM Prime Minister Zoran Zaev said that there was no need for the country’s authorities to submit documents to Greece that want to begin investigations that it was a Greek businessman of Russian origin who was named as the financier for the protests of the fan group “Komiti” in “Macedonia.”
According to Fyrom news agency meta, Zaev said that those statements of people were not recorded, and were taken from conversations with the police.
“These statements were given by people after the attacks on police officers in front of the Parliament, as part of the hooligans group “Komiti” in Macedonia. I commented on this in order to send a message that friendships should be built, and not to create grounds for hostility. Macedonia have already shown an example of building good relationships, and we will continue to do so with all countries, and that includes the Russian Federation, as well”, Zaev said.
In an interview with BuzzFeed News on Monday, Zaev claimed “Greek businessmen” who “are sympathetic to the Russian cause” had paid FYROM citizens a sum of $13,000 to $21,000 “to execute acts of violence”and influence the outcome of the upcoming referendum on the Macedonia agreement with Greece. He repeated his claims the next day at the inauguration of the construction of a factory owned by an American company.
Savvidis
A day later, BuzzeFeed News and its partner, investigative journalists NGO OCCRP, reported citing FYROM Interior Ministry documents that Greek-Russian billionaire Ivan Savvidis was behind the payments. The report claimed that the ministry documents alleged that “some payments were made in cash and some through ways that were easy to trace.”
Savvidis company issued a statement speaking of “totally false and highly slanderous report” and announced “in the next few hours and making use of all legal resources available to us, we will file a lawsuit against the medium and the authors of this unsubstantiated report.”
Russia
The accusation that it was a Russian businessman, prompted a sharp reaction from the Russian Embassy in Skopje. These allegations are sheer conjecture and guesswork aiming to spread Russophobia, the Embassy said in a statement adding these are “counterproductive and irresponsible attempts” to intimidate citizens “with a fictitious Russian threat”.
In Moscow, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova commented on Zaef’s claims on Wednesday saying that “These are unfounded allegations aimed at triggering anti-Russian hysteria. Obviously, again, there is no evidence to support these allegations.”
PS The moment Zaev & Co were called to submit documentation to prove their allegations their house of cards collapsed and had to admit the truth: allegations were based on some football fans’ statements during a protest. A diplomatic crisis based on hear saying? FYROM’s politicians have a long way to go to learn the proper dance moves on international parquet. Or they just play the role they were assigned to.
