In 1992, Greece offered the then President of the Republic of Macedonia Kiro Gligorov $100 million in financial assistance in exchange for changing the country's name, but Gligorov rejected the offer, says a declassified document of the US foreign intelligence service CIA, quoted by the website of “Deutsche Welle“ for North Macedonia, BTA reported.
The document, dated November 6, 1992, was published in the CIA's digital library of declassified documents.
In his memoirs "Macedonia is All We Have", Gligorov does not mention this case, but claims that he was personally offered $1 million by Greek intermediaries to agree to a name change.
In the declassified document, the CIA describes Gligorov as a "respected veteran statesman and reformer" who "constantly worked to balance opposing forces in his republic and throughout the Balkan Peninsula", and as a "wise old fox".
The information also says that Gligorov considered the presidents of Serbia and Croatia, Slobodan Milosevic and Franjo Tudjman blamed for the crisis in Yugoslavia.
Kiro Gligorov was the president of the Republic of Macedonia from its declaration of independence in 1991 until 1999.
For its first 36 years, the young country was hampered in its efforts to integrate into the EU and NATO by Greece's opposition to the name "Macedonia", which Athens said contained claims to its territory and history. The dispute was resolved with the 2017 Prespa Agreement, with which Skopje accepted a name change to the "Republic of North Macedonia".