Vladimir Krastevski

The interim head of the Embassy of North Macedonia in Bulgaria, Vladimir Krastevski, was summoned to the Bulgarian foreign ministry, where he was handed a protest note following an incident with a Bulgarian flag in Bitola.

The Eurovision song contest has further increased tensions between Bulgaria and North Macedonia. Sofia expressed "bewilderment" at the hate speech campaign taking place in North Macedonia against the country's own Eurovision 2021 contender, Vasil Garvanaliev.

Bulgaria expects Skopje to protect the right of every citizen to free self-identification. This is the stand of the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry occasioned by the increasingly frequent incidents of hate speech and discrimination in North Macedonia targeting citizens who dare declaring Bulgarian self-consciousness or even sympathy for Bulgaria and its people.