North Macedonia's Decision Not to Establish Post of Honorary Consul Politically Motivated: Moscow

On Friday, North Macedonia made a U-turn by notifying Moscow that refused to establish the post of honorary consul of Russia in the city of Bitola.

North Macedonia's decision to withdraw consent to the establishment of the post of honorary consul of Russia is politically motivated, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

"The authorities of North Macedonia have officially notified Moscow of the withdrawal of consent to the establishment of the post of honorary consul of Russia in the city of Bitola. Nothing is said about the motives for this step, they probably could not be formulated due to their apparent absence," the ministry added.

Moscow stressed that Skopje was sacrificing the institution of awarding honorary consuls to the West's anti-Russia narrative, and pledged to respond to the move.

"There is no doubt that we are talking again about a politically charged, hostile gesture. Yet another attack against us, which is intended to aggravate the rift in Russian-North Macedonian relations, which appeared due to the non–independent behavior of North Macedonia, as well as to demonstrate the blind loyalty of the Balkan country to its Western allies," the Foreign Ministry said.

On August 3, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that the President of the Republic of North Macedonia, Stevo Pendarovsky, made serious accusations against Russia, including interference in the internal affairs of his country, but failed to provide any evidence.

On July 22, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that the West is trying to make North Macedonia an instrument of the anti-Russian game.