SKOPJE, Macedonia: Defense Secretary Jim Mattis on Monday condemned Russia’s efforts to use its money and influence to build opposition to an upcoming vote that could pave the way for Macedonia to join NATO, a move Moscow opposes.
Mattis told reporters traveling with him to Skopje that there is “no doubt” that Moscow has been funding pro-Russian groups to defeat the referendum on a name change later this month.
“They have transferred money, and they’re also conducting broader influence campaigns,” Mattis said. “We ought to leave the Macedonian people to make up their own minds.”
Macedonians will vote Sept. 30 on whether to approve the name North Macedonia in an effort to placate Greece, which has for years blocked Macedonia’s path to NATO and the European Union. But any progress toward NATO membership by the Balkan nation is strongly opposed by Russia, which doesn’t want the alliance to expand to areas formerly under Moscow’s influence.
Mattis, speaking after a meeting with Prime Minister Zoran Zaev, made no mention of Russia but announced that the US plans to expand its cybersecurity cooperation with Macedonia “to thwart malicious cyber activity that threatens our democracies.”
Zaev predicted that Macedonians will vote in favor of the name change and thus the move into NATO.
“There is no other alternative for the Republic of Macedonia than the integration into NATO and the EU,” he said.
Macedonia’s main conservative opposition VMRO-DPMNE party repeated its position that “the agreement with Greece is the worst deal signed in the Macedonia’s history.”
A pro-Russian small oppositional party, Unique Macedonia, strongly criticized Mattis’ remarks on Moscow’s efforts to use money to influence the opposition to defeat the referendum.
Mattis is the latest in a string of international leaders visiting Macedonia to voice support for the referendum, and he’s the most senior US official to visit. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, German chancellor Angela Merkel and Austrian chancellor Sebastian Kurz have visited and made public endorsements of the name change, saying it’s critical in order for the country to join NATO after years of waiting.
Mattis said he and other NATO allies “say right up front in open press what we think.”
“We’re not passing money to people behind the scenes,” he said. “We’re not putting together parties that we control or try to control.”
Russia has already been called out for trying to influence the vote. In July, Greece expelled two Russian diplomats accused of supplying funds to protest groups opposing the name change deal. Russia denounced the expulsions as unjustified.
Greece, a member of NATO, has for years vetoed attempts by Macedonia to join NATO, complaining about the country’s name since Yugoslavia broke up in the early 1990s. Greece argues the name implies a territorial claim against the northern Greek region of Macedonia and its ancient heritage.
NATO leaders in July formally invited Macedonia to begin membership talks on the condition it wouldn’t become effective until the name change was implemented.
But there’s widespread concern about Russian impact on the vote.
“There is this influence campaign to try to buy off people and try to support pro-Russian organizations,” said Laura Cooper, the US deputy assistant defense secretary for Russia and the region.
She said she couldn’t give specifics about the payoffs but said the US is aware of financial support Moscow has given to pro-Russian people and groups working to undermine the referendum.
Evelyn Farkas, an expert on the region who is a fellow with the Atlantic Council and a former Defense Department adviser, said Mattis’ visit to the tiny nation could help sow support for the name change.
“I think Mattis could make or break this thing by delivering a strong message to the opposition, which has been grudgingly quiet, that they need to come out in full-throated support, because they’re not going to get another chance later,” Farkas said. “He can tell them this is their last chance.”
According to Cooper, the US has given Macedonia about $5 million in security assistance annually since 1991, and the total US aid since then has been about $750 million.
Mattis also met with Macedonia President Gjorge Ivanov and Defense Minister Radmila Sekerinska.
Ivanov, in a statement, said Macedonia’s “strategic interest and the highest goal remains accession” to NATO and the European Union, which he said would contribute to prosperity for the region.
The referendum vote is non-binding, and polls indicate Macedonians will likely back the deal. But even if the turnout is below the required 50 percent, if most of the people vote “yes” it will give parliament and the government a mandate to proceed.
The agreement with Greece was signed in June and requires changes to the Macedonian Constitution. The final step for NATO admission is ratification by Greece’s parliament, which would vote only after Macedonia completes all necessary procedures.
Mattis condemns Russian influence-peddling in Macedonia
Mattis condemns Russian influence-peddling in Macedonia
- Mattis told reporters that there is no doubt that Moscow has been funding pro-Russian groups
- Any progress toward NATO membership by the Balkan nation is strongly opposed by Russia
Ex-CNN journalist Don Lemon pleads not guilty to Minnesota protest charges
- A magistrate judge ordered Lemon released to await trial, after a night in custody following his arrest late on Thursday by the FBI
LOS ANGELES: Former CNN news anchor Don Lemon entered a not guilty plea on Friday to federal charges over his role covering a protest at a Minnesota church against President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, the Republican administration’s latest move against a critic.
Lemon, now an independent journalist, livestreamed a protest against Trump’s deployment of thousands of armed immigration agents into Democratic-governed Minnesota’s biggest cities. The protest disrupted a January 18 service at Cities Church in St. Paul.
A magistrate judge ordered Lemon released to await trial, after a night in custody following his arrest late on Thursday by the FBI.
Dressed in a cream-colored double-breasted suit, Lemon spoke only to say “yes, your honor” when asked if he understood the proceedings. One of his attorneys said that he pleaded not guilty.
“He is committed to fighting this. He’s not going anywhere,” said Lemon attorney Marilyn Bednarski.
“I have spent my entire career covering the news. I will not stop now,” Lemon told reporters after the hearing. “I will not be silenced. I look forward to my day in court.”
A grand jury indictment charged Lemon, who is Black, with conspiring to deprive others of their civil rights and violating a law that has been used to crack down on demonstrations at abortion clinics but also forbids obstructing access to houses of worship. Six other people who were at the protest, including another journalist, are facing the same charges.
Thousands of protesters took to the streets of Minneapolis and other US cities on Friday to denounce an immigration crackdown in which federal agents fatally shot two US citizens, sparking one of the most serious political crises Trump has faced.
PRESS ADVOCATES ALARMED
Free press advocates voiced alarm over the arrests. Actor and activist Jane Fonda went to show support for Lemon, telling journalists the president was violating the Constitution. “They arrested the wrong Don,” Fonda said.
Trump, who has castigated the protesters in Minnesota, blamed the Cities Church protest on “agitators and insurrectionists” who he said wanted to intimidate Christian worshippers.
Organizers told Lemon they focused on the church because they believed a pastor there was also a senior US Immigration and Customs Enforcement employee.
More than a week ago, the government arrested three people it said organized the protests. But the magistrate judge in St. Paul who approved those arrests ruled that, without a grand jury indictment, there was not probable cause to issue arrest warrants for Lemon and several others the Justice Department also wanted to prosecute.
“This unprecedented attack on the First Amendment and transparent attempt to distract attention from the many crises facing this administration will not stand,” Abbe Lowell, Lemon’s lawyer, said in a statement, invoking constitutional free speech protections.
In the livestream archived on his YouTube channel, Lemon can be seen meeting with and interviewing the activists before they go to the church, and later chronicling the disruption inside, interviewing congregants, protesters and a pastor, who asks Lemon and the protesters to leave.
Independent local journalist Georgia Fort and two others who had been at the church were also arrested and charged with the same crimes.
US Magistrate Judge Dulce Foster on Friday ordered Fort’s release, denying prosecutors’ request to hold her in custody, according to court documents.
TRUMP CRITICS TARGETED
The Justice Department over the past year has tried to prosecute a succession of Trump’s critics and perceived enemies. Its charges against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, who both led investigations into Trump, were thrown out by a judge.
Lemon spent 17 years at CNN, becoming one of its most recognizable personalities, and frequently criticizes Trump in his YouTube broadcasts. Lemon was fired by CNN in 2023 after making sexist on-air comments for which he later apologized.
Trump frequently lambastes journalists and news outlets, going further than his predecessors by sometimes suing them for damages or stripping them of access-granting credentials.
FBI agents with a search warrant seized laptops and other devices this month from the home of a Washington Post reporter who has covered Trump’s firing of federal workers, saying it was investigating leaks of government secrets.
Press advocates called the FBI search involving the Post reporter and the arrests of Lemon and Fort an escalation of attacks on press freedom.
“Reporting on protests isn’t a crime,” said Jameel Jaffer, executive director of Columbia University’s Knight First Amendment Institute. Jaffer called the arrests alarming, and said Trump sought “to tighten the vise around press freedom.”
Trump has said his attacks are because he is tired of “fake news” and hostile coverage.
Legal experts said they were unaware of any US precedent for journalists being arrested after the fact, or under the two laws used to charge Lemon and Fort. They include the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, a 1994 measure that prevents obstructing access to abortion clinics and places of worship.
