An unknown individual carried out an attack on the Bulgarian Embassy in Skopje on Sunday, the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry reported.
The Embassy said on its Facebook page that it has notified the competent authorities in North Macedonia about the attack. The Embassy published a photo of a smashed glass door of the mission building and a video which shows a man approaching the door, giving it a bang with his hand, and quickly walking away.
The Foreign Ministry said that it “strongly condemns this act against the building of the Bulgarian diplomatic mission in Skopje, a symbol of statehood and the official presence of the Republic of Bulgaria in the Republic of North Macedonia.”
The Ministry described the act as “an unacceptable violation of the status of a diplomatic mission and a gross breach of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.”
The Foreign Ministry expressed its deep concern that “such a brazen act” is the result of a systematic lack of response by the competent institutions of the Republic of North Macedonia to previous attacks and acts of vandalism against sites connected to Bulgaria and the Bulgarian community.
“This institutional passivity, combined with tolerated or even incited hate speech against Bulgaria and Bulgarians in our neighbouring country, has created an environment in which such criminal acts are encouraged and escalate.
“We urge the competent authorities in the Republic of North Macedonia to take all necessary measures immediately to identify the perpetrator and bring them to full criminal responsibility, as well as to ensure the security of Bulgarian diplomatic and consular missions, their personnel and property.
“The Republic of Bulgaria expects the institutions in the Republic of North Macedonia to clearly and unequivocally distance themselves from acts of hatred, to respond effectively to such crimes, to work purposefully towards creating a fundamentally different public narrative regarding relations with Bulgaria, and to fully comply with their international obligations,” the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry said.
It added that it will continue to monitor developments in this case closely and reserves the right to take further measures to protect Bulgarian interests.
/VE/