SDSM: Levica aligned with Russian party after meeting with Zyuganov
SDSM says Levica's delegation met Gennady Zyuganov in the State Duma and accuses the party of siding with a Kremlin‑backed force.
The Social Democratic Union of Macedonia (SDSM) sharply criticized Levica after the left-wing party’s delegation met in Moscow with Gennady Zyuganov, leader of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (KPRF).
Claims of ties to Moscow and domestic consequences
SDSM said the Levica delegation — led by party leader Dimitar Apasiev and including vice‑president Redzep Ismail‑Haktan and Presidium member Aleksandar Simonov — held talks with Zyuganov in the State Duma during the days commemorating the October Revolution.
In a statement, SDSM accused Levica of moving from rhetoric to concrete cooperation with a figure they described as being on the US blacklist, and warned that the meeting exposed the party’s true orientation.
SDSM’s written statement said: "There are no more masks. There is no 'authentic left'. There is a meeting with the head of the Russian party that supports the war, that defends Kremlin interests and that works against NATO and the EU. In a NATO member state, with the United States as a strategic partner, with over 80 percent support for the Euro‑Atlantic path."
Party officials also accused Levica of acting as "not an opposition but a satellite and sputnik of Hristijan Mickoski," and of inconsistent behavior at home: "They did not vote for an increase in the minimum wage. They sit at a table with the platform that demands the keys from SDSM. Now they officially sat with Zyuganov. Citizens are watching. A party that swears by workers' rights, but leaves the parliamentary chamber when a higher wage is voted for. A party that swears by sovereignty, but meets with the Russian boss. The same remote control that also holds Mickoski."
Levica had announced the Moscow meeting itself, saying the talks with Zyuganov focused on deepening inter‑party cooperation and on political education and ideological training of younger cadres.
SDSM added that it does not participate in such arrangements, and reiterated its position that "Russia is not North Macedonia’s future; the future is the EU and laws that apply to everyone."
Photo: press material from the event
