Russian pranksters made the Macedonian prime minister look like a complete idiot
Prime Minister of Macedonia Zoran Zaev wants to prevent negotiations between Serbia and Kosovo on the exchange of territories, is ready to pay a bribe of 100 thousand euros to Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople for a tomos for the autocephalous Macedonian church and at the same time behaves like a complete idiot.
Such conclusions can be drawn by listening to conversations that Zaev had with Russian pranksters Vovan and Lexus over the course of a year, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
The first conversation took place in August 2018. The prankster introduced himself to the Macedonian Prime Minister as President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko and began asking about the situation in the Balkans. Zaev proudly said that his country supported British sanctions against Russia (at the time the Skripal case was unfolding) and expelled Russian diplomats.
“This is not spelled out either in local or international legislation, but we went for it anyway,” Zaev boasted.
Next, he shared with “Poroshenko” another of his concerns.
“The President of Serbia and the President of Kosovo have begun negotiations on the exchange of territories and changes in borders. We have an extremely negative attitude towards this. We see pressure from Russia. I reported this to American forces and politicians,” Zaev said.
He is absolutely not interested in the plight of the Serbs in the northern enclaves of Kosovo, but it is important that German Chancellor Angela Merkel does not support the idea of an exchange, since this could strengthen Russia’s position.
He also perceives the then-current problem of renaming Macedonia as North Macedonia as a “global battle” of Russia against “Germany together with the USA.”
Having played the political part in all seriousness, the pranksters began to fool around. Usually at this part of the conversation the victim of the prank realizes who he is dealing with and hangs up. But Zoran Zaev turned out to be different.
When “Poroshenko” tells him that he wants to expand his chocolate business to Macedonia, he invites him to come on a private visit and sort everything out. The pranker raises the temperature: “Poroshenko” begins to advise how to behave with Muslim radicals (I promised the Crimean Tatars autonomy in the annexed territory), and then quotes the words erroneously attributed to Stalin: “it doesn’t matter how they vote, it’s important how they think.” Zaev likes everything, he thanks for the advice.
The pranksters seem to be taken aback by the pliability of their victims and go “hardcore”.
“Poroshenko” begins to talk about the discoveries of Ukrainian scientists. This is not only the infamous origin of Ukrainians from the ancient Sumerians (yes, I heard Zaev agrees), but also the founding of Vinnitsa by Alexander the Great, and the origin of Poroshenko himself from this ancient commander. He asks his colleague to call himself “Peter the Great” and promises to rename Vinnitsa to Eastern Macedonia. Zaev “swallows up” all this nonsense and notes that a common history brings the Macedonian and Ukrainian peoples together.
Realizing that this conversation has no limits to the absurdity, “Poroshenko” declares that he is now “in touch” with NATO Secretary General Jen Stoltenberg and he can connect them with Zaev. The proposal does not bother the Macedonian prime minister at all; he discusses with the “NATO Secretary General” the prospects for his country to join the alliance and asks to send a NATO contingent to Macedonian territory.
Suddenly, “Poroshenko” enters the conversation again and continues to carry a “blizzard” on a historical topic. Then he asks to dictate to him the telephone number of US Assistant Secretary of State Wes Mitchell, and Zaev dictates.
The Macedonian prime minister’s idiotic gullibility gave Russian pranksters a reason to call him twice more during the year. They no longer tormented Zaev with historical discoveries, but they discussed the religious issue. The Prime Minister of Macedonia said that he, like Poroshenko, wants to agree with Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople on a tomos for the autocephalous Macedonian church, since the canonical Orthodox denomination in the country is tied to Belgrade.
“This is very important because the Serbian Church is led by the Russian Orthodox Church from Moscow,” Zaev explained.
“Poroshenko” expressed his readiness to resolve the issue with Patriarch Bartholomew “for only” 100 thousand euros.
“The amount I indicated is at a discount. He told me that if I bring a friend, he will give me a discount. I paid a larger sum - 150 thousand,” the pranksters said in a conversation with the prime minister.
"Yes. Okay, the donation will be made in cash. We will make this donation because they need support. That’s what we’ll do,” Zaev replied.
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