On September 12, the Ambassador of the Russian Federation was summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of North Macedonia where he received a diplomatic note declaring three diplomats of the Russian Embassy in Skopje as personae non grata. In addition, ROC Archimandrite Vassian (Zmeev) was banned from entering the country.
This is stated by MFA North Macedonia, the Balkan Observer reports.
This decision was made after competent authorities reported the actions taken by the Russians that violate the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.
For the third time since the outset of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Skopje has declared the employees of the diplomatic mission of the Russian Federation as personae non grata.
Archimandrite Vassian (Nikolai Zmeev) is present in the current list of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of North Macedonia, along with three Russian diplomats who were expelled from the country. He was banned from entering North Macedonia.
Zmeev is a clergyman with the Russian Orthodox Church, abbot of the Moscow Patriarchate in Sofia (Bulgaria). He is also a member of the so-called Imperial Orthodox Palestinian Society under the leadership of ex-head of the FSB Sergey Stepashin.
According to the media, Zmeev acts as the coordinator of Russian church policy in the Balkans, with a special focus on Bulgaria and North Macedonia.
According to unofficial media reports, Archimandrite Vassian’s “merit” was the stagnation in relations with the Ecumenical Patriarchate regarding the full recognition of the autocephaly of the Ohrid Archdiocese.
Recently, President Stevo Pendarovski publicly announced that some bishops of the MOC-OA were in close contact with the Russian security services.
Russia labeled the declaration of three diplomats as undesirable persons as an “irresponsible and hostile act”.
