A nationalist organization in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) yesterday claimed responsibility for an attack on five busloads of Greek tourists in FYROM’s southeastern resort of Ohrid last weekend in a development that diplomats in Athens described as a vindication of Greek claims that Skopje’s nationalist rhetoric has paved the way for extreme behavior.

A group calling itself United Macedonia sent an e-mail to Ohrid television station TV-M, claiming responsibility for the attack, which damaged the coaches and injured one tourist. The group asserted that tourists from FYROM visiting Greece suffer harassment. In Athens, Foreign Ministry spokesman Giorgos Koumoutsakos defended the government’s decision to issue a travel advisory for Greeks traveling to FYROM, referring to many instances of “exceptionally high fines and even court cases” imposed on tourists for minor offenses.