The leader of Macedonia’s VMRO-DPMNE party, Hristijan Mickoski, had met with Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic and Hungarian PM Viktor Orban prior to former Macedonian PM Nikola Gruevski’s escape to Hungary, Macedonia’s PM Zoran Zaev told N1 on Wednesday.

Gruevski fled the country before he was supposed to report to authorities to serve his two-year prison sentence over the illegal purchase of an armoured car.

“It is important to note that, before he escaped, the head of the opposition VMRO-DPMNE and successor to Gruevski had met with Orban and President Vucic,” Zaev said.

“That was done publicly but he never explained what they talked about. It remained a secret for us. Then Gruevski escaped the country,” he added.

Gruevski was sentenced alongside former Macedonian Interior Minister Gordana Jankuloska in an indictment submitted by the country’s Special Prosecutor’s Office based on wiretapped conversations over the illegal purchase of a Mercedes which was bought in 2012 for nearly 600,000 Euros.