VMRO-DPMNE Answers SDSM Over ‘ATS Group’: Not the Current Government, but the SDSM Government Had Ties to the Ammunition Company

Skopje, Sept 24 – VMRO-DPMNE sharply answered today’s accusations by SDSM, rejecting claims that the current government has ties to the private contract between the Skopje ammunition company “ATS Group” and the American lobbying firm “Mercury Public Affairs”. According to the ruling party, the government has “no legal or organizational connection to a private contract concluded between two companies”.

Earlier today, SDSM spokesperson Bogdanka Kuzevska accused “ATS Group” DOOEL, owned by Shefshet Demirovski, of paying about $130,000 a month to “Mercury Public Affairs” to promote in Washington topics presented as strategic state priorities of North Macedonia in the U.S. The lobbying materials, titled “Strategic Partnership USA – North Macedonia” and submitted on April 2, 2026, match, according to SDSM, the points of Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski’s government — zero tariffs, American gas, IT investments and energy projects — while the prime minister’s visit to the U.S. on September 15–22, 2026 left no trace of meetings with senior officials such as Secretary of State Marco Rubio or Deputy Secretary Christopher Landau on official American pages.

In its reaction, VMRO-DPMNE asked: “Is Bogdanka Kuzevska talking about the same ‘ATS Group’ that was opened by Zoran Zaev, who was photographed smiling with half the government, including Radmila Shekerinska, who is now NATO’s Deputy Secretary General? Or about the same ‘ATS Group’ about which Zaev himself said at the company’s opening that it is a result of NATO membership — ‘NATO membership opens markets and new opportunities for growing exports and investments’?” The party adds that the firm’s owner, during the SDSM era, received a diplomatic passport as a friend of Zaev, while company representatives have been photographed with the entire SDSM and DUI leadership.

VMRO-DPMNE also mentioned the support the company had received from former deputy prime minister Fatmir Bitiki and from the then Ministry of Defense, as well as statements by former prime minister Dimitar Kovačevski about “ATS Group’s” contribution to NATO’s defense system. “SDSM’s scum are masters at scoring own goals. It has truly become disgusting how SDSM deals with spreading lies and disinformation. The severe lack of ideas in which they find themselves is becoming a chronic condition of a party occupied by criminal structures, led by Zoran Zaev and Venko Filipče,” the ruling party’s reaction states.

Source: 360 stepeni