MURDER IN RMV AND RUSSIAN POLITICAL INSTALLATIONS

The double murder in the Republic of North Macedonia (RMN), allegedly committed by Ljubco Palevski – Palco, surpasses even the greatest mysteries in thriller movie scripts. Vanja Gjorchevska (14) from Skopje and Panco Rzezovski (74) from Veles had nothing in common, except for their executioner. The two were reportedly shot in the head by Palevski, a figure not unknown to Macedonian public opinion. He was arrested on Wednesday night in Turkey and is expected to be extradited to RMN.

On November 22, Zhezhovski was kidnapped by three people close to Palevski. After being taken to the outskirts of the city, he was mercilessly killed by Palevski. The motives for the murder, according to the three suspects who are in custody, are of the nature of profit and greed. However, many dilemmas arise due to the fact that Zhezhovski was not rich. He worked as a hairdresser in his small shop in the center of Veles all his life. His family was not even asked for a large sum of money to release him alive. He was simply executed.

Five days later, on November 27, the same group led by Palevski organized the kidnapping of the minor Vanja Gjorchevska. At 7:30 that day, at the time she usually left for school, the group met the girl in front of her house. After neutralizing her, they put her in a camping sleeping bag and threw her in the trunk of a Citroen car, which they had taken from the first victim – Pancho Rzezhovski.

A Renault Kangoo car "cleared" the road, while a Citroen car drove behind it, where Vanja was hiding. In this case too, the three suspects stated that the motive was financial gain. It was said that Vanja's mother had sold an apartment and that the intention was to get the money. Vanja's father is also under investigation, who they say notified the kidnappers when his daughter left the house. However, in Vanja's case too, the kidnappers did not even ask for money for her release. They killed her at around 10:30, just two hours after the kidnapping. When asked why they killed her, the suspects said that "things got out of control" when Vanja's mother posted about her missing daughter on Facebook and that the case became known throughout the country. But, this does not hold because Vanja's mother's first post was made at noon, after Palevski had committed the crime.

Palevski and his group are not typical underground people. They are founders of a far-right party. "Desna", an extra-parliamentary entity that has promoted and defended Russia's interests in North Macedonia. Palevski, as the leader of this party, was previously the leader of SDSM in Skopje, or the most powerful man immediately after the former leader of this party, Branko Crvenkovski. At the same time, he was involved in the construction and media business, but supporting the country's Euro-Atlantic path. During this period, he made many friends among politicians, including Albanian ones. From 2017 he slides towards the political extreme, becoming one of the biggest promoters of Russia in the Macedonian public opinion. In addition to the “Desna” party, Palevski has been a frequent guest in television studios and in the last year has hosted his own podcast on social networks, named "Let's have a chat" His latest podcast is number 113. and was broadcast on November 29, two days after he executed Vanja and a week after the execution of Pancho. His regular broadcast schedule was Sunday, November 26, but in an announcement posted on his Facebook profile he said he was canceling it for Tuesday, so that he would eventually hold it on Wednesday.

His pro-Russian stances and his opposition to political forces committed to the country's integration into NATO and the EU have been present in the public sphere throughout his career. He was an opponent of the Albanian Language Law of 2017, the Prespa Agreement that resolved the thirty-year-old name problem with Greece, and the country's Euro-Atlantic orientation.

In the year 2019 Palevski arrested at Belgrade airport, waiting to travel to Moscow. He is arrested by Serbian police based on an arrest warrant previously issued by Croatia.

also Pançe Zhezhovski, one of Palevsky's victims, seems to have navigated the same political waters. He has even shared video content from experts close to Russia, including his executioner. In 2017, Zhezhovsky joined the "Edinstvena Rusia" party, led by Yanko Bachev, a politician who promotes Russian interests in the country. The founding of this party was attended by two of Putin's top advisers, Aleksandr Dugin and Leonid Savin.

In this whole confluence of events, the lack of a logical explanation for the motive for the murders by Palevski and his group comes to the surface. If the intention was not to extract money from the victims, then why were they kidnapped and killed?

There are two possible tracks that could lead to the real motive: the first is to kill two Macedonians and blame them on Albanians, and the second – it is related to the OSCE summit, which was held in Skopje from November 29 to December 1, which was attended by high-ranking representatives of the US, EU, Russia and other countries. The first track could lead to Palevski's interest in inciting interethnic conflicts to create a political climate in which his far-right party would increase its chances of achieving good electoral results in the parliamentary and presidential elections to be held on May 8, 2024. During the time when Vanja's fate was unknown, portals close to pro-Russian structures in the country published disinformation that the 14-year-old was being held hostage in Kosovo and that the perpetrators of the kidnapping were ethnic Albanians. The current plot, meanwhile, is related to the attempt to undermine the OSCE summit with the aim of creating unrest that would prevent the arrival of senior figures in world politics, such as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

However, these clues remain in the realm of conspiracy as long as the investigations of the Prosecutor's Office in Skopje have not been completed. These days, examinations are being carried out of the mobile phones of the suspects and victims, their contacts, the two pistols found during the raid on the offices of Palevski's party, as well as other collected material. Some of the dilemmas may also be clarified by the main suspect in the two murders, Ljubco Palevski, who is being held in custody in the Turkish city of Balikesir, where he was arrested while attempting to flee to third countries, allies of Russia.

The author is a contributor to The Geopost from Skopje.