The three Russian diplomats who were recently expelled from Macedonia are persons who worked against the diplomatic rules and tried to interfere in the strategic national interests of our country, says Defense Minister Slavjanka Petrovska.

In response to a journalist's question at today's press conference with the Slovenian Minister of Defense, Marjan Sharec, she emphasized that anyone who tries to hinder the strategic goal of the state - NATO and the EU, cannot be considered a friend.

As for the last expulsion, for now it is about people who worked against the diplomatic rules, but it is obvious that according to the rules according to the dictionary of the security-intelligence services, they tried or wanted to interfere a little more in the strategic national interests of our country. Our path, the path of the state, not only of this Government, but of the state as a whole is very clear and we have stated many times so far that our strategic goal is membership in NATO and the EU, and we cannot do it for anyone who tries to obstruct that path. to consider him as a friend, especially not if he wants to do it by interfering in the work of the institutions or any other entities in our country, said the minister.

He added that the Army and the Ministry of Defense are safe and have developed a system of protection against such or similar influences.

The Army and the Ministry of Defense are safe and have developed a system of protection against any influences including such malicious ones, these are all those influences which we consider to be contrary to our strategic and national interests, therefore I want to welcome the work not not only to the military intelligence, but also to the other security-intelligence services, which obviously do their job well, we have not detected a threat of this type directly against members of the ministry or the Army, assured Petrovska.

On September 12, the Ambassador of the Russian Federation was summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and was handed a diplomatic note, with which three diplomats in the Embassy of the Russian Federation in Skopje were declared as persona non grata.

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