The claims of the opposition SDSM leader Zoran Zaev that it doesn’t matter who orchestrated the wiretapping operation, but that only the contents of those conversations are important shows that he is on a thin ice and keeps getting further embroiled in his own intrigues, Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski stated Wednesday. Gruevski was speaking about the wiretapping scandal opened by Zoran Zaev, who started sharing audio files of conversations he claims he got from insiders in the Macedonian State Security system (UBK). Former UBK chief Zoran Verusevski, who led the agency under SDSM administrations, is charged with recruiting UBK operatives to wiretap for the benefit of a foreign intelligence, and his wife is among a group arrested in possession of confidential material.

“We saw Zaev seriously claiming that it is normal for a family to contact with coded messages… This is what Zaev has said about a man who he allegedly didn’t know, who he said had no contact with, and now all of a sudden he admits he knows how this man and his wife contacted. He said he believed it was quite normal and tries to justify it to the public,” Gruevski stated answering a journalist question. Media reported that investigation in Verusevski's communication showed coded text messages he exchanged with his sons, which included boasting that they will get computers and a car from Zaev, from their cooperation.

The whole situation, Gruevski added, is becoming a bit ridiculous. “The more Zaev appears on TV, the more he gets distorted from his lies and the intrigues in which he is embroiled together with those who are directing this.”

Zaev continues to blame the current UBK administration of organizing the wiretapping, but most of the conversations he claims he has are of Gruevski, current UBK chief Saso Mijalkov or Interior Minister Gordana Jankuloska. "Zaev’s claims that it doesn’t matter who orchestrated the wiretapping operation, and that the only thing that matters is what has been recorded, but these are contorted arguments that show that he is on thin ice. It is impossible to say that it is irrelevant who broke into the state system, that it is irrelevant that a network of agents has been recruited and that a foreign intelligence service has been involved. It is impossible to say it doesn't matter that Zaev has been an instrument of that intelligence service that paid off its own collaborators in Macedonia. Some of them have pleaded guilty of being bribed and working on their orders,” Gruevski said