Independent Macedonia

Sofia has expressed "concern" after North Macedonia's Justice Minister, Krenar Loga, on Thursday banned a Bulgarian club from being named after a Bulgarian nationalist who became a Nazi collaborator, after a state commission in charge of advising on such issues recommended the move.

The secretary of the Bulgarian cultural club "Tsar Boris III" in Ohrid was beaten, the MEP Andrey Kovachev announced on his Facebook profile.

According to her, the European Union has prepared a support package for the entire Western Balkans to help it deal with the energy crisis.

"I think that this is a provocation that does no good," said the Prime Minister of North Macedonia, Dimitar Kovachevski, on the occasion of the protests yesterday at the opening of the Bulgarian club "Tsar Boris III" in Ohrid.

The court in Bitola has ordered 8 days of arrest for the Macedonian singer Lambe Alabakovski, who was detained yesterday for setting fire to the front door of the Bulgarian Cultural Center "Ivan Mihailov" in Bitola. The attack took place in the early hours of June 4.

The perpetrator, who set fire to the front door of the "Ivan Mihailov" Cultural Center in Bitola, North Macedonia, was caught. This was announced by the Macedonian Minister of Interior Oliver Spasovski on his Facebook account.

The 34-year-old singer Lambe Alabakovski has been arrested. He works and lives in America, but returned to Bitola a few weeks ago.

Early this morning, the "Ivan Mihailov" Cultural Center in the town of Bitola, in the Republic of North Macedonia, was set on fire.

Bulgarian President Rumen Radev made a sharp statement to the authorities in the Republic of North Macedonia. He said, "it was high time the anti-Bulgarian ideology swirling in our neighboring country to stop."

World War II nationalist leader Ivan Mihailov was once regarded as a Nazi collaborator, but has been rehabilitated in Bulgaria for use as a tool in the country's dispute over its shared history with North Macedonia, says Bulgarian historian Chavdar Marinov.

Accusations against Bulgaria of provocation and calls for the suspension of the Good Neighborly Relations Agreement were voiced by Macedonian politicians and members of the public after the visit of Vice President Iliana Yotova and Prime Minister Kiril Petkov to Bitola last week, BGNES reported.