In light of Zaev’s prank scandal, former Foreign Minister Antonio Milososki raised the issue of whether the Prime Minister’s office lied about a meeting with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in Davos.

Zaev was recorded by Rus sian pranksters Vovan and Lexus, who he believed were Ukrainian President Petro Porosenko and Stoltenberg, and he divulged sensitive information about regional affairs to them.

During his press conference, in an attempt to explain away the embarrassment and the damage he caused to Macedonia’s reputation, Zaev said that he was in official communication with President Porosenko, during a meeting in Davos. Zaev said that he discussed Ukraine’s NATO bid with Porosenko, adding that “naturally, since he is one of the owners of the large chocolate factories there, I invited him to invest in our country, that would be a foreign investment”. But the Government’s press release issued after Davos mentions meetings with Marjan Sarec, Hashim Thaci, Jens Spahn, Kristalina Georgieva, Johannes Hahn, Stoltenberg, George Soros, but not with Porosenko. Given the modest list of world leaders who Zaev and his team met in Davos, of there was a meeting with Porosenko in Davos, it would’ve certainly been reported, Milososki observed.

The former Foreign Minister notes that the Ukrainian Government press services also didn’t note a meeting with Zaev in Davos.

Had Zaev really met with Porosenko in Davos, he would’ve certainly mentioned the lengthy conversation they had using WhatsApp six months ago, and he would’ve realized it was a prank call. The two subsequent compromising calls would not have happened. Instead, Zaev attempts to cover up his old scandals with fresh lies, Milososki added.

Vovan and Lexus have pranked numerous world leaders before, but such incidents usually last ten minutes, until the target realizes he’s being pranked. In Zaev’s case, he apparently realized he had three conversations with the “fake Porosenko” only on Monday evening, when the tapes were revealed, and the Russians could’ve easily kept syphoning information from him for a while in the future.