Moscow accused of fomenting dissent between Bulgaria and North Macedonia
Historical tensions remain between the two Nato countries. The issue of Skopje's entry into the European Union. The Russians are used to acting as masters in Bulgaria, thanks to the entrenchment of their security services.
Moscow (AsiaNews) - Many see the hand of the Kremlin behind the recent diatribes between NATO allies Bulgaria and North Macedonia.
On February 4, a large group of Bulgarian citizens tried to cross the Macedonian border to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the death of their revolutionary hero, Gotse Delčev, who inspired the uprisings against the Ottoman Empire.
After several hours of blockades that left more than 200 people in the neutral zone between the borders, and some violent clashes, the authorities arrested the most exaggerated demonstrators.
There had been another incident earlier, when in the Macedonian town of Okhrid the secretary of a Bulgarian cultural centre, 21-year-old Kristian Pendikov, was violently beaten 'for reasons of nationalist hatred', as the local prosecutor's office later stated. The young man later ended up in a Sofia hospital in a very serious condition.
Commenting on this episode at the Security Council, Macedonian President Stevo Pendarovski said that the Russian secret services were behind this "anti-state campaign": they would manoeuvre some "organised structures" in the country in order to exacerbate tensions between North Macedonia and Bulgaria".
The far-right Bulgarian MEP Angel Džambazki, who calls the neighbours 'temporary administrators of our Macedonia', however, accused the Macedonians of constantly attacking and insulting his compatriots.
According to him, Skopje together expresses positions of 'Nazism, fascism and Bolshevism, and we must veto Macedonia's entry into the European Union'.
The Macedonian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bujara Osmani, has also increased the dose in recent days, speaking of 'third forces interested in maintaining a condition of permanent conflict in this area'. When asked by journalists to name names, he replied 'the Russian Federation'.
The quarrels between the two neighbours have been going on for several years, especially since 2004, when the Macedonians applied to join the EU. After long disputes with the Greeks, they agreed to add the title 'of the North' to leave part of the Macedonian identity to the Greek region of Thessaloniki.
As of 2019, however, Sofia has demanded not to call the country's language, considered a Bulgarian dialect, 'Macedonian' and to stop calling the presence of Bulgarians, allies of the Nazis, on this territory a 'fascist occupation'.
The European Commission has made the 'French formula' of compromise accepted with great difficulty, by inserting the reference to the 'Bulgarian minority' in the Macedonian constitution, causing Sofia's veto to be lifted. However, integration progress is not making much headway due to the constant outbreaks of protest on both sides.
In the demonstrations in Okhrid, the head of the pro-Russian Macedonian Levitsa movement, Dimitar Apasiev, has come to the fore, as has opposition leader Kristian Mitskoski, who proposes to 'cancel the friendship agreement with Bulgaria'.
Pendarovski also speaks of 'hybrid threats' coming from Russia in recent years. At the last Davos forum he renewed his accusations against the Kremlin. Macedonia unreservedly adhered to all sanctions against Russia from day one, imposing entry visas on Russians and closing its airspace to Moscow, along with Bulgaria and Montenegro, which infuriated the Russian leadership, after even Foreign Minister Lavrov's plane had been turned away.
Russia accuses the EU of not being able to defend its members and allies, and of 'sweeping their ethnic and identity problems under the carpet', repeatedly citing the Bulgarian-Macedonian diatribe as an example of the situation between Russians and Ukrainians.
The Russians are used to acting as masters in Bulgaria, thanks to the entrenchment of their own security services, a situation that does not please the Bulgarians themselves, but which they are unable to contain, leaving an open rift in the heart of the Balkans.
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