North Macedonia, The Republic of

1965-09-15

Naroden Front Street No. 5-31, Skopje, North Macedonia, The Republic of

Sasho Mijalkov (Mijalkov) is the former chief of counterintelligence in North Macedonia. Mijalkov allegedly engaged in a vote rigging scheme and an expansive illegal wiretapping operation targeting 20,000 people, including opposition politicians, judges, and journalists, that provided political and economic gain, and which precipitated a two-year political crisis in the country by revealing alleged government interference in the judiciary, control over several media outlets, and election interference. In February 2021, given his role as lead organizer of the wiretapping scheme, he was convicted by a court in North Macedonia of criminal association, abuse of office, and receiving a reward for illegal influence. Subsequently, in April 2021, a court in North Macedonia convicted Mijalkov of abuse of power over a surveillance equipment procurement deal. Mijalkov was designated pursuant to E.O. 14033 for being responsible for or complicit in, or having directly or indirectly engaged in, actions or policies that undermine democratic processes or institutions in the Western Balkans.

https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy0712

2022-04-11

US

Executive Order 14033 Blocking Property and Suspending Entry into the United States of Certain Persons Contributing to the Destabilizing Situation in the Western Balkans

OFAC country specific

Western Balkans

Blocking Property, Suspending Entry

On June 8, 2021, pursuant to, inter alia, IEEPA, the President issued E.O. 14033. In E.O. 14033, the President expanded the scope of the national emergency declared in E.O. 13219, as amended in E.O. 13304, finding that the situation in the territory of the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the Republic of Albania (the Western Balkans), over the past two decades, including the undermining of post-war agreements and institutions following the breakup of the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, as well as widespread corruption within various governments and institutions in the Western Balkans, stymies progress toward effective and democratic governance and full integration into transatlantic institutions, and thereby constitutes an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States.

SDN