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发帖数: 4796 | 1 Macedonia Suspects A Greek-Russian Billionaire Paid For Violent Protests To
Prevent It From Joining NATO
BuzzFeed News Reporter
Ivan Savvidis
SKOPJE, Macedonia — A former Russian lawmaker who once marched on to a
soccer pitch with a gun paid at least $350,000 to support violent protests
against an agreement that would enable Macedonia to join NATO, Macedonian
officials believe.
Macedonia’s Prime Minister Zoran Zaev told BuzzFeed News on Friday that his
government has received multiple reports that “Greek businessmen” who are
“sympathetic to the Russian cause” paid Macedonians amounts ranging from
$13,000 to $21,000 to “commit acts of violence” ahead of a crucial
referendum later this year that will determine whether the Balkan state will
be able join NATO.
But this turns out to only be part of a much bigger effort that allegedly
distributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to Macedonian politicians,
nationalist organizations, and soccer hooligans to derail the vote.
Macedonia’s interior ministry is investigating payments totalling more than
$350,000 by, former Russian politician Ivan Savvidis, who is now one of the
world’s richest men with several major companies in the Greek city of
Thessaloniki. This is according to interior ministry documents reviewed by
BuzzFeed News’s reporting partners, the Organized Crime and Corruption
Reporting Project and Investigative Reporting Lab Macedonia.
Protests over the naming deal with Greece take place outside the Macedonian
parliament on June 23.
Savvidis is a citizen of Russia and Greece who first made his fortune owning
Russia’s state tobacco company. But he has since become a major force in
northern Greece. He owns PAOK FC, the soccer team in the city of
Thessaloniki, several Greek media outlets, and is part owner of the city’s
port. Savvidis is reportedly close to Russian President Vladimir Putin, and
has also been honored by the leadership of the Russian Orthodox Church.
Savvidis most recently made international headlines when he rushed onto the
field during a game wearing a gun in a shoulder holster.
The Interior Ministry documents showed that some of the payments were made
in cash carried across the Greek border, as well as transfers that may be
easier to trace. Reporters for the Investigative Reporting Lab confirmed
some of Savvidis’s transfers with some of the recipients and with financial
institutions. A soccer hooligan involved in violent demonstrations against
the deal in June confirmed that he had received payments.
Savvidis did not immediately respond to a request for comment for this story.
Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev
Zaev made the allegations during an interview in the Macedonian capital
Skopje, having just returned from the NATO summit in Brussels where
Macedonia was officially invited to move toward NATO membership. During the
summit, Zaev said he privately asked for help with the referendum from US
President Donald Trump, who is due to meet with Russian President Vladimir
Putin on Monday amid growing allegations that Russian agents tried to help
his 2016 campaign.
The biggest obstacle to Macedonia’s membership in NATO has been a long
running dispute with neighboring Greece, which has insisted the country
change its name before joining international institutions because the name
is also claimed by the Greek region of Macedonia.
Macedonians will be asked to approve the change to the country’s name to
Northern Macedonia in a referendum this fall, after which Greek leaders have
promised to follow the name change with a vote to normalize relations. But
both votes are far from certain, since the deal is vehemently opposed by
nationalists on both sides of the border.
Macedonia’s membership in NATO is fiercely opposed by Russia, which claims
Macedonia is being “suck[ed] into NATO by force.”
Just before NATO leaders signed the invitation for Macedonia to join NATO in
Brussels last week, news broke that Greece had expelled Russian diplomats
over allegations they attempted to bribe Greek officials to help kill the
deal.
“The Russian representatives who were here, and also others from Moscow, [
don’t] hide themselves that they are against our integration in NATO,”
Zaev said. “Part of them are connected with media, part of them …
encourage the young people to protest in front of the Parliament, to attack
police men, that kind of things. It’s very obvious.”
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova did not immediately
respond to a request for comment.
People in Skopje celebrate the formal invitation for Macedonia to join NATO.
The upcoming referendum is testing the relationship between Greece and
Russia — and the place of Greeks aligned with Russian interests — in an
unprecedented way. Until the recent diplomatic expulsions, Greece enjoyed a
warm relationship with Moscow and avoided diplomatic disputes with Russia.
After expelling the diplomats, Greece appeared to underscore its displeasure
by deporting a criminal suspect to France who was also wanted in Russia.
Nikos Xydakis, Greece’s alternate foreign minister for European affairs,
said he had no information on the alleged payments to Macedonians, but told
BuzzFeed News in a phone interview that Greek officials received reports a
few years ago that “there is a network [from] some other countries that
want to have some influence or regional authorities or even the central
government.”
In general, Xydakis said this was not a matter of great concern, but added
that the Macedonia name change issue “is a game changer” that could make
matters more serious. Greece’s message to Russia had been very clear, he
said, that the name deal “is between Skopje and Athens, and we don’t
anybody else to get involved.”
Zaev said he is reassured that Greece is standing up to Russia in defending
the agreement.
Putin and Trump will meet in Helsinki on Monday, July 16.
He said it was a "good message" for him and Macedonian citizens that
Greece, despite the protests and opposition to the naming deal, appeared to
"care about this agreement."
“We will take all necessary measures to block inappropriate activities what
will happen here.”
The Balkans is a key battleground in Russia’s efforts to prevent countries
once solidly allied with Moscow from building alliances with Western Europe,
and Moscow has recently been accused of going to great lengths to prevent
pro-Western politicians from gaining power.
The government of nearby Montenegro accused Russia of being behind a coup
attempt in February 2017, and Macedonian intelligence agencies gathered
evidence of a Russian operation to pull the country away from Western
alliances that ran for almost a decade, according to documents obtained by
the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project.
Zaev said he believes that integrating with NATO is essential for creating
security in the country.
“The integration protest means finally that we will be a country that has
support from everybody in the world,” he said.
Activists protest Macedonia's proposed joining of NATO.
And he wants that support from Trump, even though the US president has been
very critical of NATO.
Zaev said that he asked Trump during the NATO summit “to help our state to
have a successful referendum, our citizens have [the] democratic right to
use [this] opportunity to decide what kind of future we will move [towards]
in the future.” He also said he would welcome Trump to Macedonia to
campaign during the referendum.
“The United States — still — is the huge example of democratic
institutions, [rule] of law, free speech, and free media. That is the
important thing,” Zaev said. “It’s a huge model for us and good example.”
Zaev said this was true despite the fact that Trump has attacked the US
press and the independence of the Justice Department investigation that has
now charged 25 Russians for trying to swing the 2016 election in his favor.
Bringing Macedonia into NATO has long been a strategic goal of the US, and
Zaev said that the US government has spent more than $1.75 billion to
promote democracy in the country.
“I think that the institutions in the United States [are] so strong not
even [a] president can make so big damage,” Zaev said. “I think there will
remain a good example, especially for this part of the world.”
Trump's About To Meet With Putin. Here's What You Should Watch For.
Congrats To Greece And “North Macedonia” For Finally Agreeing On A Name |
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