After the revelation of several major corruption scandals, First Deputy Prime Minister Artan Grubi blamed Russia for the allegations. Grubi was revealed to have bought a valuable commercial real-estate in Skopje and a hotel in the Popova Sapka ski resort – through intermediaries – as well as rigging regulation to favor a company close to him.

In his response, he pointed to the prominent role he plays in highway developments – which he has apparently leveraged for corrupt purposes – to say that Russia is working against the highway projects.

The attacks are the work of pro-Russian and anti-Albanian elements who want to prevent the linkage of Skopje with Pristina and Tirana. The corridor 8, that begins in Italy and ends at the Black Sea, is the lifeline to Ukraine. Had it been built by now, had a railway been built, it would have been much easier to manage the crisis in Ukraine, Grubi said.

He is leading talks with the US Bechtel company for a large section of the highway from Skopje to Ohrid. Work on this project was advanced well, using Chinese loans, until SDSM grabbed power in 2017, when the highway construction stopped. Construction on the much smaller highway between Skopje and the Kosovo border, a project that Grubi used to lay his hands on a hotel owned by the Granit construction company, started under the SDSM – DUI administration, but so far they have struggled to complete even one kilometer of the road, as well as making much progress on the eastern section between Kumanovo and the Bulgarian border.