Ukrainian oligarch Oleksandr Onishchenko, who was given a Macedonian citizenship as an alleged “equestrian talent”, was courted by the ruling SDSM party who wanted to access his wealth. VMRO-DPMNE Vice President Aleksandar Nikoloski revealed that Deputy Prime Minister Fatmir Bytiqi met with Onishchenko, despite the fact that the Ukrainian is on a US black list, and discussed business deals with him.

He did not come to Macedonia only to ride his horses, but was on a much deeper mission, Nikoloski said. Onishchenko confirmed that he was looking into buying a bank in Macedonia, before the news of the suspicious way in which he obtained a passport was broken in the public.

According to Nikoloski, the case reveals factional infighting in SDSM and attempts to take control over the powerful ANB security service, which gave the green light for Onishchenko to receive a passport. ANB director and old secret police hand from SDSM Viktor Dimovski was called before Parliament to testify in this case, that is undermining his attempt to secure the ambassadorship to France.

Two months ago Dimovski was shamed by his own SDSM party members in Parliament who boycotted his attempt to elect a new head of internal control in ANB. The ruling coalition undermined its own proposal in Parliament. This brought to surface what we already knew, about the fights within ANB. There are at least four factions that are fighting for control, a faction close to Interior Minister Oliver Spasovski, one close to SDSM secretary Mile Zecevic, one with Prime Minister Dimitar Kovacevski and one around Zoran Zaev. And our country’s security suffers because of this, Nikoloski said.