The Bulgarian Foreign Ministry announced that an unknown person attacked the Bulgarian embassy in Skopje today and asked the competent authorities in North Macedonia to identify and punish the perpetrator.
As stated, the Bulgarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs strongly condemns this act directed at the building of the Bulgarian representative office in Skopje - a symbol of statehood and the official presence of the Republic of Bulgaria in the Republic of North Macedonia.
"This is an unacceptable attack on the status of a diplomatic mission and a gross violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs expresses deep concern that such a bold act is the result of the systematic lack of reaction by the competent institutions of the Republic of North Macedonia to previous attacks and acts of vandalism directed at facilities related to Bulgaria and the Bulgarian community," the statement said.
As stated, this institutional passivity, combined with tolerated and even encouraged hate speech against Bulgaria and Bulgarians in the neighborhood, has created an environment in which such criminal acts are encouraged and escalated.
The competent authorities in North Macedonia are called upon to immediately take all necessary measures to identify the perpetrator and hold him to full criminal responsibility, as well as to guarantee the security of Bulgarian diplomatic and consular missions, their staff and their property.
"The Republic of Bulgaria expects the institutions in the Republic of North Macedonia to clearly and unequivocally distance themselves from hate speech, to effectively confront such crimes, to purposefully work towards creating a fundamentally different public narrative for relations with Bulgaria, and to unconditionally fulfill their international obligations," the statement reads (mfa.bg/bg/news/46720).
The Bulgarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs emphasizes that it will continue to closely monitor the development of the case and reserves the right to take additional measures to protect Bulgarian interests.
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