Macedonian Foreign Ministry

Continuation of the case with the suspension of entry of the Bulgarian MEP Andrey Kovachev in the Republic of North Macedonia. The Macedonian Foreign Ministry issued a statement on why Kovachev's group and the other three Bulgarians were not allowed to enter the territory of North Macedonia and visit a Bulgarian military cemetery yesterday.

The President of the Republic of North Macedonia, Stevo Pendarovski, described as "scandalous" the request of Bulgaria to participate in the process of preparing the constitutional changes in the southwestern Balkan country.

The United States is calling on Bulgaria and North Macedonia to "de-escalate" their rhetoric and quickly resolve "bilateral disputes".

This is stated in a position of the US State Department, expressed to the Macedonian section of "Voice of America".

The Macedonian Foreign Ministry has come up with a serious reaction following the threat of Bulgaria's Defense Minister Krasimir Karakachanov that Bulgaria will prevent Macedonia from entering NATO and the European Union if our neighbor does not recognize our common history until 1944.

Macedonia will send Hungary a formal extradition request for the runaway former prime minister Nikola Gruevski in the next few days, government spokesperson Mile Bosnjakovski said on Thursday.

Kotzias's one-day visit to Macedonia on Thursday will be dedicated solely to expanding the trust-building measures between the two neighbouring countries, an informed source from the Macedonian Foreign Ministry told BIRN.

Media reports and (FYROM) Macedonian officials say the entire staff of the Serbian Embassy in Macedonia's capital, Skopje, has been withdrawn for urgent consultations in Belgrade.

Serbia has withdrawn all of its embassy staff in Skopje. There is currently no employee in the building, according to BGNES.

Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev will meet his Bulgarian counterpart Boyko Borisov and President Rumen Radev on Tuesday, amid optimism that the two countries can finally resolve their open issues by signing a long delayed agreement on good-neighborly relations.

Photo: Tandem Post [email protected] / Twitter

FYROM (Macedonia) has accused neighboring Albania of interfering in its domestic affairs, saying that Tirana is trying to influence the Balkan country's ethnic Albanian minority, RFE/RL reporting.