Greek secret services and the government have prevented an assassination attempt on the leader of Northern Macedonia, Zoran Zaev, revealed journalist Costas Melisopoulos.
The incident happened several months after the signing of the Prespa Agreement in the summer of 2018.
“The Greek secret services, in cooperation with foreign countries, were informed that they had prevented an assassination attempt on Zoran Zaev. So far there is nothing concrete. The revelation concerns the tip of the iceberg. There are still many aspects of the case,” he said.
“In the Balkans, this culture of clearing political accounts is not unknown. When there is information about a plan to assassinate a politician, the Balkan governments take it very seriously. They have informed the Greek Foreign Ministry and the government, and the Greek government has informed Zaev’s entourage,” Costas Melisopoulos added.
How the assassination attempt was prevented
According to a journalist in the Vradini newspaper, the Greek Foreign Ministry, which at the time maintained informal ties with the secret services and the Ministry of Defense, played a significant role in the whole case.
The IMRO opposition, led by Mickoski (who replaced Gruevski but was later seen as his subordinate), had polarized a dangerous climate in a country where assassination attempts on politicians are not unknown.
The powerful organizations of the people of Skopje and Australia are likely to finance the strong anger in Skopje, but they are also allocating funds to “secure” votes.
Greek secret services informed then-Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras that there was intense mobility against Zaev in Skopje. The Greek government is checking it with the US services, which are informed about the reactions, but do not know their depth. At the same time, the US services believe that “forces that have an interest in not signing the agreement will seek to prevent the change of the Constitution (of the then FYROM) in parliament.”
Shortly afterwards, Russian diplomats were expelled from Athens.
The Americans intercepted conversations of leaders moving around Gruevski’s entourage in Hungary, which documented the mobility around the attempt to prevent a change in the constitution, and confirmed contacts with leaders operating in organizations in Australia and Canada.
The experience was funded by foreign organizations and was planned by third-country intelligence officers who appear in Skopje either as sales agents or as media executives.
At the same time, the Greek intelligence services informed the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs that “an aggressive action against Zoran Zaev is imminent” without any documented evidence leading to anything in particular.
The then Prime Minister instructed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to inform the competent authorities of Northern Macedonia, and the then Minister of Foreign Affairs Nikola Dimitrov was the first to be informed. Zoran Zaev was also informed in detail through other “channels”.
The Americans took a discreet guard of the Skopje prime minister and sent messages to foreign embassies and the IMRO that they “knew”.
During these months, Zoran Zaev has the same security as the President of the United States, something that was obvious even to the ignorant and discouraged any thought of aggressive action.
The assessment of the source who gave the information to Vradini newspaper is that since the vote on the change of the Constitution, the Americans have had talks with the persecuted Gruevski and with the embassy of a powerful state, where it is said that they will be held accountable for any “accident” with Zaev.
But even today, Zoran Zaev’s bodyguards are indicative of the fear of Skopje’s leader, who remembers the fate of Gligorov, who miraculously survived in 1995.
