“We have grounded suspicion, backed by accurate information and facts, that there is currently a coordinated and directed operation of discreditation against the Republic of Macedonia, against the Government led by VMRO-DPMNE, and personally against PM Hristijan Mickoski”, ruling party MP Mile Lefkov said on Saturday.
According to him, classic hybrid methods, that is, spread of fake information, discreditation on a personal and family basis, exploiting human tragedies, economic insinuations, fabricated scandals and documents, have been being used.
“All of these activities, that are strengthened with each defeat of Bulgarian diplomacy, have been being carried out by a network of media portals in Bulgaria behind which structures of Bulgarian services and circles close to nationalist parties are. Portals such as Tribune.bg, Lupa.bg, Epicenter.bg, Pogled.info, as well as hundreds of so-called mushroom websites, are included”, Lefkov stressed, adding that they had been producing fake news on a daily basis.
The MP underlined international sources had already documented the existence of such disinformation network. Lefkov emphasised that part of the content was covered in the country by portals close to SDSM while some were ending up in traditional media.
“This coordinated operation has no ideological grounds. It’s motivated by retaliation and the despair of Bulgarian policy that no longer has its poltroons in Macedonia”, MP Lefkov emphasised.
According to VMRO-DPMNE, DFRLab has already exposed a network of hundreds of coordinated portals in Bulgaria that are used to spread anti-Western and anti-Macedonian narratives. In response, SDSM said that whenever VMRO-DPMNE was caught in scandals or crimes or whenever it faced a debacle internationally, the party came up with conspiracy theories to divert attention from its “incompetence”.
“The only ones that have already harmed and done work against Macedonian interests are VMRO-DPMNE and Foreign Minister Timco Mucunski”, the party noted.