BELGRADE (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 29th May, 2019) An operation held on Tuesday by police of the partially recognized Republic of Kosovo in its northern part, populated mainly by Serbs, resulted in the outrage of Serbia and Russia.
On Tuesday, Kosovar police entered Serbs-populated territories in northern Kosovo. Serbian media initially reported that 13 Serbs had been detained, while Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said later that over 20 people had been detained, including Mikhail Krasnoschekov, a Russian employee of the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK).
The operation followed Vucic's speech in the Serbian parliament, in which he called on Kosovo to revoke 100-percent tariffs on central Serbian goods as well as said that Kosovar authorities may conduct operations against the Serbs living the partially recognized republic.
Dozens of armored vehicles were involved in the Kosovar police operation, which was officially aimed at fighting members of organized crime groups. The Serbs, living in northern Kosovo, erected barricades on roads in Kosovska Mitrovica and Zubin Potok municipalities and clashed with the Kosovar police. Sirens and shooting were heard in the area.
Director of the Kosovo Police Inspectorate Miradije Kelmendi said that the police operation had left 19 people arrested, three police officers and six civilians injured. During the operation the officers also confiscated weapons, equipment and money. Kosovar Deputy Prime Minister Fatmir Limaj said that organized crime faced a "terrible blow" as a result of the operation.
INJURED RUSSIAN EMPLOYEE OF UN MISSION
UNMIK employee and Russian citizen Krasnoschekov was detained and injured during the operation.
"A UN vehicle with a Russian employee and another local employee was at the site of liquidation of barricades. They were arrested as participants of [clashes] at the barricades," the Kosovar police said.
Later the detained people were transferred to a hospital. The Russian Embassy in Belgrade confirmed that one of the hospitalized detainees was a Russian citizen.
According to doctor Zlatan Yelek from a hospital in the town of Mitrovica in Kosovo, the Russian citizen sustained a serious head injury during the clashes.
"He has a head injury and a fracture of the zygomatic bone, which is classified as serious injuries. The injuries occurred from a rifle butt strike to the head, although this man was not armed," the doctor told Sputnik.
Kosovar President Hashim Thaci pointed out that the police had detained Krasnoschekov because he opposed the actions of law enforcement officers.
"The operation was carried out at a vast territory in Kosovo. Officials and nationals of different countries were detained. One Russian man, who tried to get in the way of the police during this operation, was also detained," Thaci said.
UN Deputy Spokesman Farhan Haq said in a press briefing later in the day that the Russian citizen had been released and was in a normal condition.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said that the detention of Krasnoschekov was unacceptable and called on the UNMIK to provide comprehensive information about his arrest.
Following the Kosovar police raids in northern Kosovo, the Serbian president called an emergency meeting of the country's National Security Council and put on high alert the Armed Forces and the Interior Ministry. Serbia military vehicles and a MiG-29 fighter were sent to the Serbian-Kosovar border.
"If there are violations of the constitutional order and attacks on the Serbs in northern Kosovo and Metohija, we will protect our people ... The goal of today detentions of the Serbs is to intimidate them because the only goal of Pristina is to seize the northern part of the region. The reaction of Belgrade will be well-planned, serious and far from being helpless," Vucic told the parliament.
He pointed out that the Kosovar operation hindered the UN-sponsored dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina, which, however, from his point of view has no alternatives.
The Kosovo Force (KFOR) informed the Serbian authorities that it decided not to interfere in the Kosovar police operation, stressing that from its point of view the operation had not targeted the Serbs as an ethnic group.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said that the actions of the Kosovar police were a direct result of the years-long Western support for the Kosovar authorities.
Moscow called on the international allies of Kosovo to exert influence on Pristina in order to prevent uncontrolled escalation of tensions in the region.
According to the chairman of the international affairs committee of Russia's upper house of parliament, Konstantin Kosachev, the tensions in Kosovo demonstrated the NATO mission's inability to ensure peace and stability the conflict-torn region.
Member of the Russian upper house's security and defense committee Frants Klintsevich called on the Kosovar authorities to apologize for detaining the Russian citizen and bring those responsible for that to account.
Kosovo unilaterally proclaimed independence from Serbia on February 17, 2008, after years of conflict with Belgrade. The self-proclaimed republic is recognized by over 100 UN member states. Serbia, as well as Russia, China, Israel, Iran, Spain, Greece and a number of other countries have not recognized Kosovar independence.
