Macedonia has become the latest theatre in a tug-of-war between the West and Russia over the future of the Western Balkans.
...“[We must] avoid that this political and institutional crisis becomes an inter-ethnic conflict or, even worse, a geopolitical one,” EU foreign relations chief Federica Mogherini said after meeting Ivanov in Skopje on Thursday.
...Nato head Jens Stoltenberg and the US ambassador to Macedonia, Jess L. Baily, echoed her views. “I look to the authorities in Skopje to fulfil the next step in the democratic process,” Stoltenberg said. Baily, who also met Ivanov, said his decision was “inconsistent with basic democratic principles and the rule of law which are core values of Nato.”
...The Russian foreign ministry said on Thursday that EU and Nato had caused the crisis and that they endorsed the creation of a “greater Albania” in the region. “The political crisis in Macedonia [was] provoked by the gross external interference in the country’s internal affairs,” Russia said.
...Some 15,000 supporters of former Macedonian prime minister Nikolai Gruevski and his VMRO-DPMNE party, which stands to lose power after 11 years in office, chanted anti-Albanian and anti-EU slogans such as “EU hands off Macedonia”. Gruevski won the most seats in the election, but his party, which is embroiled in a corruption scandal, failed to build a coalition.
Macedonia is home to some 500,000 ethnic Albanians who make up 25 percent of the population.
https://euobserver.com/foreign/137100
