"We noted an outrageous in its content article in the Macedonian edition of Deutsche Welle, attempting to ascribe to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov the idea of division of the Republic of Macedonia… Lavrov has never done such statements, on the contrary, he strongly condemned such kind of speculations," the statement said.
The ministry noted that the "provocative" article was issued in order to "undermine the Russia's image in the Balkan region and to inflame the situation in Macedonia."
The political crisis in Macedonia began in 2015 as the opposition accused the ruling conservatives of intercepting telephone conversations of some 20,000 people, including police officers, judges, journalists and diplomats. It resulted in the agreement reached last year between the most influential parties in Macedonia, under which then Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski had to resign and the parliament was dissolved.
