North Macedonia's Foreign Ministry

Macedonian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Transport Aleksandar Nikoloski made a pointed remark in response to the controversy over the absence of the Macedonian flag during an informal meeting between Presidents Rumen Radev and Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova in Sofia.

North Macedonia's Foreign Ministry on Monday issued a statement affirming the country's "unwavering commitment to fully respect constitutional provisions and all internationally assumed obligations," including the Prespa Agreement signed with Greece, which settled the longstanding name dispute between the two countries.

As North Macedonia gears up for an important constitutional change, to include Bulgarians in the preamble as a constitutive people and so avoid repeated Bulgarian EU blockades, it has condemned a Bulgarian request to be "included" in the process as "scandalous".

The Russian foreign ministry has declared a Macedonian diplomat as persona non grata and expelled them from their role in the Macedonian embassy in Moscow and the country.

Olivera Chaushevska-Dimovska was the charge d'affaires of North Macedonia at the country's embassy.

North Macedonia's Foreign Ministry on Tuesday indirectly confirmed the expulsion of a Russian diplomat, after media reported that a Russian deputy military attaché was told to leave the country last week.

The mayor of Skopje's municipality of Centar, Sasa Bogdanovic, said on Monday that a large unfinished memorial complex dedicated to Skopje-born Mother Teresa should not be completed but erased from the city's urban plan because it blocks an important pedestrian street leading to the main square.

North Macedonia has defended its decision to stop a shipment of 920 copies of a Bulgarian book intended for a Bulgarian cultural centre in Skopje, after Bulgaria on Sunday sent a protest note. The books were not allowed across the Deve Bair border crossing between the two countries at the weekend.

While the US, Canada and some other countries have started evacuating their citizens from the Diamond Princess cruise ship, docked at Yokohama in Japan, and quarantined amid the coronavirus COVID-19 epidemic, citizens from the Balkan region will remain stuck on board until the isolation period ends this week.

Greece and North Macedonia on Friday exchanged notes verbales that upgrade the role of their respective liaison offices in Athens and Skopje to that of embassies.

The Greek Foreign Embassy confirmed the initiative with an announcement on Friday.

"This is a great day for diplomacy, and even greater for our citizens," North Macedonia's Foreign Ministry said on Twitter.

Greek Parliament will ratify the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia's NATO accession protocol under its new name "in the coming days," government spokesman Dimitris Tzanakopoulos said on Thursday, during a regular press briefing.