MOSCOW, March 3. /TASS/. Foreign interference in Macedonia’s affairs has been taking extreme forms, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Friday.

On December 11, 2016, the ruling party gained the majority of votes at the Macedonian parliamentary elections. "Despite all the manipulations, the opposition, openly supported by the European Union and the United States, had to face a defeat," the Russian Foreign Ministry’s statement reads. Meanwhile, "EU Commissioner for European Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and other high-ranking officials of the so-called ‘enlightened Europe’, eager to promote democratic principles, continue to exert unprecedented pressure on Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov, demanding that he give the post of prime minister to the opposition members who have accepted the ‘joint platform’ of the Macedonian Albanians," the statement adds.

Head of the self-proclaimed Kosovo Hashim Thaci has "joined the EU officials, calling on the Macedonia Albanians to ‘take their rights into their hands’ in accordance with the Greater Albania project which includes vast areas in a number of Balkan states," the Russian Foreign Ministry went on to say. "This is just another evidence proving that the quasi-state of Kosovo is one of the main sources of instability in the Balkan region," the statement says.

"The Macedonian people should decide their future themselves, without having to face foreign interference," the Russian Foreign Ministry stated.