Skopje, 4 May 2023 (MIA) – Ambassador Sashko Todorovski has been recalled from Prague due to a series of irregularities, said Minister of Foreign Affairs Bujar Osmani in an online media briefing Thursday.

As a reason for his recalling, Osmani pointed to a series of irregularities, false representation of his wife as a cultural attaché and noncompliance with instructions from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

“We have recalled one ambassador during his term due to identified irregularities,” said Osmani, adding that this was a procedure which lasted several months.

Osmani criticized VMRO-DPMNE’s reaction to the list of ambassadors who are still waiting to be accredited, which they labeled as a serious diplomatic scandal.

“I understand the need for a sharper political rhetoric one year ahead of elections. However, I have to state that there are certain issues which mustn’t be a topic of daily political struggles. Diplomacy, interethnic relations, certain structures in society can’t be used by the parties for political points ahead of elections. I won’t allow partisan speechwriters to discredit these people based on false information sourced from various channels and by doing so send a bad message to the countries that should provide accreditation for the diplomats,” said Osmani.

He stressed that at this stage of the process, until they are accredited, he cannot comment on the nominated ambassadors. “With this level of appointments,” added Osmani, “we will reach an almost 100 percent coverage of our diplomatic missions.”

“A large number of diplomatic missions will be filled in the coming period. And we will be in a situation where, perhaps for the first time, we have only one or no diplomatic missions without an ambassador,” said Foreign Minister Osmani.