One of Greece’s most prominent businessmen, Greek-Russian investor Ivan Savvidis, this week categorically denied that he’s behind attempts to block a landmark agreement between Athens and the neighboring former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (fYRoM) to solve the “name issue”, which still prevents a full normalization of relations.
“We want to make it unequivocally clear that businessman Ivan Savvidis has no whatsoever involvement or relationship (in the matter), as stated in the absolutely false and extremely libelous article,” Savvidis’ Dimera Group, his holding company, said in a statement.
The denial, by Savvidis’ side, comes in the wake of serious claims by the prime minister in the neighboring country, Zoran Zaev, who referred to “Greek businessmen” trying to bribe citizens of his country to engage in violent actions, all aimed to scupper the so-called “Prespes agreement”.
Zaev’s serious allegations were first relayed by BuzzFeed News.
Zaev specifically charged that people with pro-Russian positions in Greece were behind the financing of such actions, while declining to name specific names, saying a probe was ongoing and due to sensitive diplomatic relations.
