Ambassador of the Republic of Macedonia to the Republic of Serbia Vera Jovanovska was summoned today to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia for urgent talks aimed at explaining the circumstances that have led to tapping telephone conversations between Counsellor of the Embassy of the Republic of Serbia in Skopje Goran Zivaljevic, President of the Democratic Party of Serbs in Macedonia Ivan Stoilkovic and journalist of "Politika" Miroslav Lazanski, as well as the fact that these transcripts were leaked to the public.

The Macedonian side was asked whether ambassadors of other countries, whose agency representatives were seen in the Sobranje building during the protests in Skopje, were also summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Macedonia, or was that only the case with the Ambassador of Serbia.

Ambassador Jovanovska stated that relevant Macedonian services did not have information on the presence of members of other foreign services during the riot at the Sobranje, and that she had no information as to how the said transcripts ended up in the Serbian media. The Ambassador indicated that transition of power in Macedonia was underway, and expressed her confidence that all misunderstandings would be settled in the period ahead.

Assistant Foreign Minister Goran Aleksic and Chief of Office of the Minister of Foreign Affairs Dejan Zlatanovic asked Ambassador Jovanovska to convey to Skopje the expectations of Serbia that good-neighbourly relations could be developed and enhanced only based on mutual respect and adherence to generally-accepted diplomatic principles, such as reciprocity and equal treatment of all members of the international community.