Secret Videos Fuel Macedonia 'Coup' Frenzy

The opposition Social Democrats, SDSM, have condemned the publication of a video, which purports to show the opposition leader admitting that he obtained incriminating material from foreign intelligence agencies.

The fact that the "Prime Minister is recording political meetings in his cabinet is scandalous", the SDSM said on Tuesday.

On the low-quality video footage, Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski can be heard asking SDSM leader Zoran Zaev whether "foreigners" gave him the supposedly hot political material - that Zaev has repeatedly said he was about to publish. Zaev appears to reply positively to the inquiry.

The secret film "shows how Gruevski operates, and confirms what Zaev is saying, how the opposition leader is being followed and how thousands of citizens in Macedonia are being eavesdropped," the SDSM party press release reads.

In a separate statement, Zaev rubbished claims that the video proves he obtained his material from foreign intelligence services and thus committed a crime.

"Did Gruevski really think that I would tell him the truth about who has handed me the evidence?" Zaev told Plusinfo, after the video emerged, repeating his initial claim that the alleged material comes from a domestic source.

Gruevski's ruling VMRO DPMNE party, however, said Zaev had been caught red-handed, plotting against his own country in collaboration with foreign secret services.

In a press release, the ruling party reminded "parties and the media" to "act responsibly and professionally and within the constitutional and legal frame and democratic standards regarding this case," in order not to help those who plotted what it calls an attempted coup.

The Macedonian Association of Journalists, which rallies pro...