Media close to SDSM are reporting a briefing from Zoran Zaev’s office that he reportedly held an urgent meeting of top officials who are responsible in the escape of Saso Mijalkov, that he was very angry and demanded that they urgently investigate what happened. Mijalkov, the former head of the UBK security service who was prosecuted by Zaev over dozen various cases and was close to sentencing in the 2015 mass wiretapping scandal, disappeared on the day when he was about to be ordered into house arrest.

This scandal, especially after the similar disappearance of Mijalkov’s cousin Nikola Gruevski in 2019, raised widespread allegations that the Zaev regime allowed Mijalkov to escape. Mijalkov was very helpful to Zaev, providing the votes Zaev needed in 2019 to impose the name change on Macedonia, and later tried to create factions in VMRO-DPMNE and weaken the party to help Zaev consolidate his power.

The meeting was convened so that all details of the events are investigated. The Prime Minister stands firm in his public declarations that all responsible officials are tasked with locating Saso Mijalkov. The Prime Minister told the officials that hte public expects detailed explanation and that the institutions are responsible to give clear answers, the SDSM aligned media outlets are carrying the briefing handed down by the Zaev regime.

Interior Minister Oliver Spasovski was named as a possible “sacrificial lamb’ after the escape, and he spent Monday hiding from the public, but today he is announcing that he has no intention to resign.

The briefing, portraying an angry Prime Minister berating his inner circle was met with mockery in light of the clear indications that Zaev had a productive relationship with Mijalkov. Attempts to focus the blame on “moles” in the Interior Ministry or the prosecution who allegedly tipped Mijalkov off that he is about to be put in house arrest are also being laughed out – the entire public knew that the sentencing is scheduled for this week and that, due to the nature of the case and the enormous investment in portraying Mijalkov as a wiretapping mastermind, he will get a guilty verdict. Defense Minister Radmila Sekerinska today raised the issue of a “mole” and afterwards, in his press conference, so did Spasovski.