Simeon Mihaillov, who was sentenced to 12.5 years in prison in the “Detonator” case and is wanted by North Macedonian authorities through an international arrest warrant, has published a video presenting his version of the reasons behind his conviction.

A day earlier, Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski said he expected Bulgaria to extradite Iva Mihaillova’s father. The latter is currently on trial in Kochani on charges of causing a traffic accident resulting in a death.

According to Mihaillov, during Nikola Gruevski’s government in Macedonia, he ran a successful business that included several casinos. He claims that, with the aim of taking the business away from him and dozens of other people in the same situation, he was charged with money laundering.

Mihaillov says the Prosecutor’s Office failed to secure evidence for the charge and that he was released after spending four years in pretrial detention behind bars.

He says that immediately afterward he was accused of planting a bomb beneath a person’s vehicle, together with a group of people whom, he claims, he does not know. For this case, he says he was sentenced in absentia to 12 years in prison, without a single piece of evidence being presented.

According to Mihaillov’s claims, the casinos he owned were transferred into state ownership and then hastily sold to people close to the government. He accuses Sasho Mijalkov, the former director of the security service in Skopje, of being behind it all.

Meanwhile, his daughter, Iva, has asked the court to return her passport so that she can leave Macedonia. For the time being, the court has rejected the request because of the risk of flight and in order to ensure her presence at the hearings in the proceedings that will determine whether she bears criminal responsibility for the road accident. At the first hearing, Mihailova pleaded not guilty.

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Bulgarian Foreign Minister Velislava Petrova said that the authorities in Skopje lack the necessary political will to implement the agreement reached as part of the 2022 European compromise. According to her, confrontations and anti-Bulgarian statements are pushing North Macedonia away from the path of integration into the European Union.

Speaking to the Bulgarian newspaper “Standard,” Petrova said that in 2022 she was part of the team that presented Sofia’s position to the European Union. She stressed that Bulgaria had managed to persuade its European partners to support this position.

“The 2022 European compromise was a major success, as it received support through a clear inter-institutional consensus in Bulgaria,” Petrova said. She underlined that securing this consensus had been difficult and that this was precisely what increased the agreement’s importance.

The Bulgarian minister denied that Sofia had imposed new demands on Skopje, insisting that Bulgaria was not asking for anything beyond the European framework already established for this issue. She said that restoring trust between the two countries would be possible only if the commitments undertaken were implemented and a constructive approach was pursued to unresolved issues.

Petrova also criticized the language recently used in relations between Skopje and Sofia. According to her, political confrontation does not serve North Macedonia in its process of accession to the European Union, but only causes delays.

During the interview, she also referred to the case of Iva Mihajlova. Petrova said that the way the Macedonian authorities acted in that situation did not provide grounds for optimism that relations between the two countries would soon make greater progress.

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Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Timço Mucunski said that dialogue with Bulgaria has continued uninterrupted since the government was formed, although the intensity of the talks has varied at different times.

“From the moment this government was formed until today, communication has been continuous. At times, the dialogue has been more intensive, while at others it has been less so, but there has always been discussion of an appropriate and fair solution within the framework of our positions,” Mucunski said at today’s press conference, responding to a question about whether talks are underway to overcome the dispute with Bulgaria, which is hindering the country’s European integration.

Asked whether Sofia had given any indication that it might change its positions and whether the Macedonian side was prepared to make concessions, the minister stressed that issues related to history, identity, language and culture constitute the country’s red lines.

“These are the principles we present in every negotiation process. It is not fair for our negotiations to remain continually blocked over an issue that affects our identity, language, history and culture. We have consistently made our positions clear to citizens and all international partners. We expect European institutions to provide a system of guarantees, respect the principle of reciprocity regarding human rights, and deliver a solution that will safeguard our positions on identity, language, culture and history,” Mucunski said.

Speaking about dialogue with the European Union, he said that no more substantive discussions had taken place in recent weeks because of collective annual holidays in EU member states and European institutions.

Mucunski added that more visits and meetings are expected in the coming period. “The Czech Republic is a principled supporter of ours, and I am confident that this issue will be among the topics we will discuss with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic, who will visit the country. It is natural for this dialogue to continue, to move forward, and for us to conduct it on the basis of the positions we have presented,” he concluded.

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Kristian Vigenin, a Bulgarian MEP from the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats group, believes that North Macedonia must win the support of Bulgarian citizens if it aims to become part of the European Union.

In a statement for BNT, Vigenin said that visits by representatives of the Republic of North Macedonia to European capitals and their efforts to find ways to the European Parliament are not enough. According to him, they must secure the support of Bulgarian citizens and not treat this issue as unimportant.

The MEP referred to the results of a survey he had commissioned from the local agency “Myara”. The data, according to him, show that Bulgarians generally support EU enlargement, but do not have the same attitude toward each of the candidate countries.

Vigenin explained that positive opinions are more widespread, with the exceptions being Macedonia and, in particular, Ukraine, toward which a more negative attitude is observed.

He also stressed that relations between Bulgaria and Macedonia in recent years have not only not calmed down or normalized, but have moved in the opposite direction.

For this reason, according to Vigenin, Macedonia must work to change the perception that exists of it in Bulgaria.

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Foreign Minister Timço Mucunski said that “under the radar” talks are taking place to unblock Macedonia’s European path. He stressed that details cannot be made public, as such an action would jeopardize the negotiations and lead to failure.

Mucunski told AIM that the current government differs from previous cabinets because it does not accept making concessions on identity, history, language and culture. According to him, citizens should be convinced that the government clearly knows where it gets its legitimacy, respects their position, and has defined red lines, as well as issues on which it is not willing to negotiate.

“We are working on a solution, but not a solution at any cost. We do not want an agreement that will not be sustainable and that will create the risk of returning again to the situation we are in now,” the minister said.

He assessed that political consensus is needed on this issue, and accused the opposition of past mistakes and of “lack of capacity to understand the consequences of decisions taken in 2021 and 2022.”

“Almost exactly five years ago, on July 29, 2021, in Parliament we reached a political consensus through a resolution on state positions related to the national interest. It included identity, historical and other issues. The resolution was adopted almost with consensus, but the then government of DUI and SDSM broke that agreement within a few months,” Mucunski said.

He added that, if asked about the need for a political consensus, his answer is without doubt positive.

According to the minister, however, the opposition must first face reality. He said that self-satisfaction and the inability to foresee the broad consequences of developments in 2021 and 2022 have brought the country to the current situation.

“The opposition has the legitimate right to criticize and take a stance on almost every issue. That is also its role in a parliamentary democracy: to criticize and contribute,” Mucunski concluded.

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The dialogue between Macedonia and Bulgaria will continue as a natural process, but the Government will not accept concessions that affect the national interest, history, or identity of the country, the cabinet of Foreign Minister Timčo Mucunski told “Lokalno”.

Responding to a question about alternatives for opening negotiations with the European Union and the practical meaning of the fact that Protocol 2 of the Agreement on Good Neighborliness, Friendship, and Cooperation with Bulgaria is not included in the Negotiating Framework, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs underlined Mucunski’s stance on the need for a clear, predictable, and guaranteed process based on European criteria.

From Minister Mucunski’s cabinet, they let it be known that he clarified at the press conference that, from a legal perspective, the protocols do not constitute an integral part of the Negotiating Framework. According to him, the admission process should be developed on the basis of European criteria, not bilateral interpretations.

The Ministry also relays that Mucunski has once again requested clarity, predictability, and guarantees on how the European integration process will unfold.

According to the Foreign Minister, the disagreement is linked to the fact that Bulgaria interprets these issues differently and considers the so-called protocols as an inseparable part of the Negotiating Framework.

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Asked by “Lokalno” whether the ministry would investigate the possibility that the diplomatic note had come from North Macedonia’s embassy in Bulgaria, Mucunski said: “From an official standpoint, we have closed the topic with Sofia and are awaiting an appropriate response from their side. In my view, it is not in the spirit of friendship and good neighborly relations to say that this is old information; that is not good when it comes to diplomatic communication.”

Last week, Prime Minister Mickoski said he had informed NATO allies about the incident, because, according to him, it involved a case that compromised his security and that of his family.

In its initial response, official Sofia denied that the diplomatic note had been leaked from its Foreign Ministry, arguing that it concerned an event that had taken place some time ago. The case is linked to a trip by the Prime Minister’s wife in January of this year./Telegrafi/

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According to Bulgarian media, Kajchev said that meetings and talks are being held, but without concrete results and without decisions that can be approved and implemented by the governments of both states.

He recalled that during the period when the Commission was formed, there were decisions and texts that had been approved by both governments. However, according to him, they are unfortunately not being implemented. He also stressed that since 2019 the work of the Commission has remained “stuck in one place” and is “working in vain.”

Kajchev stated that the meetings are continuing and that the latest one was held at the beginning of June, on June 3-4 of this year in Skopje. But, according to him, unfortunately no result is still being achieved. He added that the other side lacks the will to listen to historical sources and, above all, to make concrete decisions.

The historian also said that European diplomacy is well aware of the real situation in Macedonia, and as evidence of this he cited the European Parliament Report.

“The assessments of the country are not at all flattering. It is emphasized that there was no progress last year. There are also remarks in the field of ecology. Even the country’s political system is assessed only as ‘satisfactory,’” Kajchev said.

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In a statement to the Bulgarian state agency “BTA”, Bulgaria’s Foreign Ministry emphasized that, as had been announced earlier, the note made public concerns the events of January 6, 2026. According to them, the circumstances of this case are still being clarified, while an inspection has been ordered to determine all the facts related to the handling of the note within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

A few days earlier, Bulgarian diplomacy had denied that it had shared information about the Mickoski family’s trip. It had even distanced itself from the case, arguing that it concerned events that had taken place some time ago and that, for this reason, they could not be treated as an immediate security threat.

On the other hand, Mickoski said in an interview with MRTV, on the occasion of the second anniversary of the Government’s mandate, that the provocations that have occurred in the recent period are part of an organized Bulgarian campaign in our country. According to him, its aim is to promote things that are unacceptable through one or two political figures.

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Speaking on “Samo Intervju,” Mucunski said he was “terribly disappointed” by the response that came from Sofia regarding yesterday’s announcement by the Bulgarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs about the publication of the diplomatic note related to the trip by members of Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski’s immediate family to Pamporovo at the beginning of the year.

He reiterated that the statement does not include a clear denial that the material was leaked from the Bulgarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but only implies that the event happened some time ago.

“The response was essentially that it happened a long time ago. It was not even a clear denial, only that the incident happened a long time ago,” Mucunski added.

Mucunski stressed that the minimum he expected from official Sofia was a condemnation of the publication of the diplomatic note, comparing this to the way North Macedonia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the country’s institutions acted, as they immediately condemned the burning of two diplomatic vehicles in front of the Bulgarian embassy in Skopje, which happened recently.

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