MOSCOW, October 25. /TASS/. Washington is pointing at Russia to cover up its meddling in internal affairs of Skopje, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday in comments on a new portion of accusations from the US.
"These are new baseless accusations against Moscow concerning its allegedly manifest interference in domestic political processes in the Republic of Macedonia," she said, referring to a high-ranking official from the US State Department voicing them in Skopje on October 22.
"We would like to reiterate that it was the US and not Russia that as recently as October 19 pushed through that country’s parliament the decision to launch the procedure to amend the Macedonian constitution in the spirit of the Prespa agreement," she said, adding that absolutely unscrupulous methods were used, namely blackmail, threats and bribes.
"It is noteworthy that it was the US ambassador in Skopje who was in the building of the Macedonian parliament directly supervising that process. And these are the people who are telling us about some Russian interference," she stressed.
"Besides, out partners are hushing the fact that as you know. It is not Russia, but the majority of Macedonia’s population that speaks against the Prespa agreement, which was clearly demonstrated during the referendum on September 30," she said.
She said "Russia’s stance on the issue of the state name for the Macedonian state is unchanging, transparent and absolutely clear". "The long-term solution must be found by the sides themselves without pressure from outside, and certainly not under dictation of the American ambassador, without imposing artificial timeframes and terms, with relying on broad public support and solely within the framework of law and resolution 795 of the UN Security Council," she summed up.
On June 17, Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias and his Macedonian counterpart Nikola Dimitrov signed the so-called Prespa agreement stating that the former Yugoslav republic would change its name to the Republic of North Macedonia. This treaty was due to resolve the decades-long dispute on the country’s name and pave the way for its NATO and EU membership.
On September 30, Macedonia held a referendum on an intergovernmental treaty with Greece to rename the Balkan country. Citizens were offered to answer the following question: "Are you in favor of European Union and NATO membership by accepting the agreement between the Republic of Macedonia and Greece?" The referendum was declared void because of low turnout. According to the election commission, the final turnout was 36.91% with the required number of over 50%.
On October 19, the Macedonian parliament voted in favor of making amendments to the constitution. One of the amendments is to rename the country North Macedonia.