Skopje denies eavesdropping on Serbian officials
Macedonian Foreign Minister Nikola Dimitrov has denied that his country's government eavesdropped on Serbian officials and institutions.
Source: B92, Blic, Tanjug
"We neither had the intention, nor did we give the order to eavesdrop," Dimitrov told a news conference on Tuesday.
Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic said earlier in the day that Skopje's activities are "not something done among friends."
It has been established that Macedonia's intelligence services followed and illegally "processed" Serbian diplomats, the daily Blic reported on Tuesday.
The newspaper further stated that "foreign powers" were also involved in intelligence activities undertaken against Serbia.
"Serbian diplomats were followed without any reason, and even the method of intimidation was used. Some of the pressure that was applied was okayed by foreigners," a source has told the Belgrade daily, and added:
"As soon as this information was confirmed to us, we reacted to protect our staffers."
On Sunday night, Macedonian TV Telma said that the entire staff of the embassy of Serbia in Skopje was urgently withdrawn to Belgrade. Since then, there has been a "diplomatic war" between Serbia and Macedonia.
Reports have been coming from Serbia that such a decision came after Macedonia decided to "change" its position regarding the admission of Kosovo to UNESCO, but also that there was solid evidence of "offensive actions against Serbia."
Ivica Dacic spoke on Monday about the involvement of "a foreign factor" in the affair.
Skopje claims that its position on Kosovo in UNESCO will be tied to the position of the majority in the EU, and so far have not commented on the claims about intelligence activities against Serbia.
