Moscow Does Not Oppose New Name For Macedonia, But Questions Legitimacy - Lavrov

(@rukhshanmir)

Moscow Does Not Oppose New Name for Macedonia, But Questions Legitimacy - Lavrov

Moscow does not oppose the new name for Macedonia, but there is the issue of the legitimacy of the ongoing process, which may be due to the goal of driving all the Balkan countries into NATO as soon as possible, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Wednesday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 16th January, 2019) Moscow does not oppose the new name for Macedonia, but there is the issue of the legitimacy of the ongoing process, which may be due to the goal of driving all the Balkan countries into NATO as soon as possible, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Wednesday.

"We have always actively supported this dialogue [between Greece and Macedonia]. We have always spoken for a solution to be found in a way that would be acceptable to the public, nations, and certainly the governments of both Greece and Macedonia," Lavrov said at an annual press conference.

"We do not oppose the name that eventually appeared and was announced. We ask questions about how legitimate this process is and how much it really is conditioned by the desire to find a consensus between Greece and Skopje, or it is conditioned by the US desire to drive all Balkan countries into NATO as soon as possible and stop any Russian influence in that region," he said.